Regret Written in Red PT II
by auroracle
Summary: After the release of her no longer secret boyfriend Roman Torchwick, Ruby Rose hopes to have a normal relationship with the acceptance of her friends. Except all Ruby gets is hateful looks and strange dreams that she doesn't seem to remember when she wakes up. Rosewick. Slight Bumblebee. Continuation of Regret Written in Red, if you haven't read it, read it first.
1. Chapter 1

**THIS IS THE SECOND PART TO MY LAST FANFIC REGRET WRITTEN IN RED SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, READ IT FIRST**

* * *

I wake up alone again, which made me feel even worse. Waking up at 4AM is already a horrible feeling, but knowing that you're sleeping in the same room with people who are still bitter about last week's assembly, is even worse.

My sister, Yang, seems to be okay with my relationship with ex-criminal Roman Torchwick, but sadly no one else seems to feel that way. Weiss still isn't talking to me, which could also be because she's been busy with her new boyfriend, Neptune. I'm actually happy for them, but mostly for me since Weiss used to be obsessed with creating a relationship between us. Blake, Yang's girlfriend, is happy for me, but definitely does not approve of my boyfriend choices. She keeps saying that he's much older than me, but everyone knows that not the real issue. She used to be obsessed with catching Roman, that led us to finally capturing him, and me and him falling in love. Blake must partly be blaming herself for everything.

I'm not the only one with problems though, even Roman get hate every day, which is the reason he likes to stay in his house. Sometimes I get him to come out, but only for a while, he seems to be afraid of what people will say. He's also afraid of the people he used to work with, the White Fang, Cinder. Just her name made me shiver. She and her henchmen Emerald and Mercury had all tried to invade Beacon from inside, but thanks to Roman they failed. He's not afraid for himself, he's afraid for me. He thinks that someone will come to kidnap me, since I'm the only person he loves and is close to.

I decide to get up and go for an early walk around campus, sleeping isn't really an option anymore. Once I'm awake it's really hard for me to go back to sleep, it's not a good thing to be a lazy huntress.

I dress myself with the usual school uniform and my lovely red hood and cape. People often question me wearing my hood all the time, but that's just my way of saying 'please leave I don't want to talk to you'. I'm sure I've mentioned that I'm not a social person.

I leave our room as quietly as possible, none of my teammates really enjoy being woken up by me. The dorm hallways are more quiet than ever, which is a relief. Ren, one of the members of team JNPR, is laying on the hallway floor. He doesn't seem to be asleep, I'm guessing he's just enjoying the silence and waking up early. I slowly walk around him and continue my journey. I don't care if he noticed me or not, but I'm grateful he didn't try to create conversation.

For all I know, team JNPR accepts my relationship with Roman, but we don't really talk about it. I try to keep my talks about Roman to a minimum, no one wants to hear it and I don't want to hear them complain. It's a win-win solution.

* * *

The cold air fills my lungs the very moment I step outside. It's still extremely dark and more cold than ever, both signs of winter. I've never been a huge fan of winter, it's cold and wet, and just thinking about it gives me the chills. The only good thing about it is Christmas, presents and cookies are my kind of thing. Luckily winter isn't due for another two months or so.

I really should've brought something warmer to wear, if I'd known this is what the weather would've been like I wouldn't have even bothered to come.

I return to the door of the dorms, only to notice that it's been locked. This is exactly what I needed, being locked outside in the cold for another two hours. The dorm doors can be opened from the inside at any time, but from the outside they open at 6AM and close at 10PM.

There's only one place I can go at this hour, Roman's house. Other than Roman, the only people who know where his house is are Professor Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch and I. It's not even that hard of a place to find. At first Glynda had decided to give Roman a room, but Ozpin convinced her that he needed more space. You can't really call Roman's house a house, it's more like a cottage. It's just outside of Beacon, just like the staff quarters.

The walk to Roman's cottage didn't take too long, at least with my semblance. I could already see it in the distance, it looked just like any cottage, except that it was white. Everything in Beacon is either white, silver or green, well on the outside at least. When Ozpin became the school's headmaster he decided to have the whole place repainted, before that it was simply white. I've done my research on Beacon's history, when I was young I wanted nothing more than to be here. I did everything to fulfill my dreams, even if that meant staying up all night studying the history of Beacon until you knew it by heart.

When I arrived at the cottage all the lights seemed to be out, on purpose I presume. The windows had been covered with curtains so you couldn't see inside, which was my idea.

I step on the empty porch and walk up to the door. I take the key from around my neck, I thought that was the best place for it, and open the door as silently as possible. As I shut the door behind me I notice that the house is silent, which usually happens when people sleep, silence. I light up a candle I found at the window sill and walk to the master bedroom, which is where Roman sleeps most of the time. Sometimes he falls asleep on the sofa watching TV, which happens more often than you think.

I open the bedroom door, it squeaks a bit, but Roman doesn't seem to wake. He's laying in the middle of the bed, as usual. His bed sheets are scattered around the floor, implying that he's been turning around a lot in his sleep. I grab one of the blankets from the floor and wrap it around him carefully so he doesn't wake.

I sit on the bed and listen to it squeak from all the weight. Roman looks so calm in his sleep, not a care in the world. Sometimes I wish there was no one but me and him left in the world, so there'd be no one to judge us, life would be so much easier.

Roman grabs me and presses me against him, but he doesn't seem to be awake. _Grabbing girls in your sleep, nice Roman_. Well, might as well try to sleep while I'm here. I snuggled even closer to him, grab a corner of the blanket and wrap it around both of us and fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake to the sound of my scroll beeping, I had set my alarm for 7AM last night just in case I overslept. Groaning as I turn it off, I suddenly remember that I'm not in my dorm room and that I'm not alone in this bed. I slowly turn my head and glance at Roman, who's already staring back at me. We just silently stare at each other for a while, until he falls back on the bed.

"Red", he stares at the ceiling and tiredly groans, "you shouldn't be here".

It's sweet that he's trying not to break the rules just so I don't get in trouble. If I wasn't here he'd probably still be rotting in jail, which neither of us would enjoy.

"I know, but it was either this or freezing to death outside", I say a bit awkwardly.

"Why on earth were you outside?", he stands up and stares at me in shock.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep so I decided to go on a walk", I say embarrassed and get out of bed.

He walks up to me and hugs me tight, "Please don't go outside in the middle of the night ever again", he whispers in my ear, his voice filled with worry.

"Whatever you say", I hug him back.

A few seconds later we part, knowing that we both have things to do. Roman started his new job last week, he's now the official Beacon's weapon fixer. I obviously have to get to class by 9AM, and before that eat some breakfast, but I can probably do that here while I'm at it.

I already had my school uniform on so I didn't bother changing. Roman on the other hand was struggling with his shirt, I laugh at him and run away.

I go straight to the kitchen and start preparing omelets, which are basically the only thing I can cook. Roman's fridge is stocked up at least most of the time, but the one thing it _always_ has is eggs.

* * *

It wasn't long until the omelets were done and we were both sitting at the very small dinner table. Neither one of us was the awkward small talk type, so we just eat in silence. Roman seems to be enjoying his breakfast, he likes when I cook for him.

Once we're done eating I grab the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, which I am thankful for. Roman would never ever wash dishes, they'd just rot there until the end of time.

Time goes by so slowly, it was only 8AM. I had literally nothing planned for the rest of the day, I was going to come visit Roman after school and that was it. My life may seem a bit boring, but honestly there's no place I'd rather be than with him.

I lay on the sofa and decide to sleep for a while longer, since three hours of sleep is clearly not enough. Roman has banned coffee from me, since it makes me go a bit hyperactive.

I manage to rest my eyes for five minutes until Roman comes and cuddles next to me.

"Roman, I'm trying to sleep", I mumble.

"I know, that's why I'm here", he chuckles and snuggles closer.

"Meanie", I say and playfully punch him in the shoulder.

" _Ex-criminal_ , remember?", he says and kisses me.

There's nothing I love more in the world than kissing Roman. If there is a heaven, this is it. The best part is that he seems to be enjoying it as much as I am, maybe even more.

After our very long kissing session, we cuddle up against each other on the sofa and slowly fall asleep. Roman was already sleeping when I remembered to set an alarm for 8:50AM, which was about half an hour from now. The last thing I remember is his warm arms wrapped around me, then I fall asleep again.

* * *

 **AN~ Honestly this chapter is shorter than I'd prefer, but I just couldn't have myself mash up two chapters so, here, have a somewhat short chapter. The next ones will be longer, don't worry ^^ Thanks for all the support guys 3**


	3. Chapter 3

I wake up a minute before my alarm and quickly turn it off so it doesn't wake up Roman. I've already woken him up once today and he needs rest, because staying up late watching movies really isn't good for you.

Despite me trying not to wake him up, he notices that I'm no longer in his arms and wakes up.

"RED!", he yells in panic searching for me around the room. Thankfully he calms down when he notices me, "Where are you going?", he says a bit sad.

"I have class", I respond with the same tone, "trust me, I'd much rather be here, but Glynda will not be happy if I don't show up on the last day of the semester. She's having her 'I'm becoming the headmaster' speech today and everyone has to be there. And besides, you have work to do", I try to cheer him up.

"Yeah, but work will only keep me busy for so long. I'm not going to see you at all", he frowns.

I place my hand on his cheek, "Roman, I'll come here straight after school and then we'll have two weeks just to ourselves, nothing or no one will bother us".

He looks at me for a while, most likely pondering if he should let me go to class or not. He quickly glances at the door, then back at me. He sighs deeply.

"Fine, but you're going to be late at this rate, go", he kisses my cheek and I run towards the door.

Just before I leave, I steal his bowler hat from the coat rack and put it on.

"Hey! Wait a min-!", he starts yelling, but stops as the door closes behind me.

I'm trying very hard not to laugh while running, it slows me down quite a bit. I run to class as fast as possible, leaving red rose petals behind. I see the rest of my team walking to class as I pass them.

* * *

I arrive in front of the classroom before the bell rings. Other students seem to be quite keen on looking at me today. They most likely enjoy looking at my hat, well Roman's hat, which I've now successfully stolen from him. I'll probably give it back to him someday, but not today.

The bells ring and I enter the classroom. My team is nowhere to be seen, so I sit down at my usual place. I really couldn't stand another moment of small talk with my team, we don't seem to talk about anything important. They don't really care about my life anymore, and I really don't want to create a boring conversation about their lives. They're clearly trying to avoid the real topic, and if they're not ready to talk about my relationship with me face to face, I won't make them.

My team arrives two minutes late, which means extra homework for them, since Glynda really enjoys being mean. Although she's not always bad, she can be sweet if she wants to. However that side is rarely shown to students, hopefully she'll start to change her ways as headmaster.

"We're sorry, we were just looking for our team leader", Weiss says. You can see from the twitching of her mouth that she's lying.

"I believe Miss Rose is right there", Glynda points at me, "I can assure you she's completely safe and that your argument is invalid. You three will see me after class for extra homework, is that understood?", she says strictly.

"Yes Mrs. Goodwitch", they all said at the same time as they walk toward their places next to me.

I remove the hat, since you're not allowed to wear any inside classrooms. Sadly, it was the only thing keeping me sane at that moment.

Neither Weiss nor Blake wanted to sit next to me so Yang sacrificed herself, I guess they still hate me. I wonder how long it will take for them to finally accept me, because we had awesome plans for our little vacation. Yang had promised to take us to that dance club of hers, sadly none of us is eighteen yet so no drinking would be allowed.

I play with the hat in my hands and fiddle with the small feather poking out of it. It made me feel a bit better, but much sadder at the same time, knowing that Roman wasn't here. Yang seems to notice my distress, but doesn't question it, she knows exactly why I feel like this. Last week she tried to get the rest of our team to see the light, but none of them wanted to accept the fact that Roman really had changed. I don't really feel too bad about the fact that they don't accept Roman, but I feel worse about how they don't trust my word. They're my teammates and they should trust me, if they don't what good are we?

Yang nudges me with her elbow and passes me a note. I don't exactly want to read it, but her staring at me isn't giving me a choice. I open the folded note and start reading.

 _We need to talk, all of us. Skip lunch, see you at the library. Don't worry I'll bring snacks._

Was this another one of Yang's desperate ideas to get us back together? Usually the only people to actually show up are me and Yang, which is why the ideas are desperate. No one really wants to talk to another anymore, we're just there.

Lunch was only two periods away, which gave me a lot of time to think. The teachers wouldn't notice me not paying attention if I stare at them while I think. Thankfully the next two periods are in this classroom, so I don't have to bother with moving.

I know exactly what they want to talk to me about, but am I ready to talk to them about it? What if they ask me really awkward questions? That won't end well. I'm pretty sure Weiss and Blake will blame Roman for everything, since they really don't seem to like him. I just hope it won't horribly wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN~ The "Spiritual" tag will be more noticeable in the future, at least I hope so. Honestly it's just the only word fitting for what I have in mind. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter. I'll try to post a new one every three days or so, but if I don't do not panic, I am most likely still alive.**

* * *

After class, as promised, I skip lunch and head straight to the library where the rest of my team is already waiting along with team JNPR. When Yang said all of us, I didn't think she'd meant all of our friends.

One of the large tables was stacked with all sorts of different foods and drinks, I wonder where they got them. I walk toward the table and grab something that looks somewhat healthy. A bowl of salad and grape juice seemed to be my lunch for the day.

They all seemed to have eaten a few minutes ago. I sit down at the table, knowing that everyone was staring at me in utter silence.

"You wanted to talk, so talk", I say as I munch on the salad.

"Um, okay. Blake wanna start?", Yang asks her girlfriend, who sighs in frustration.

"Okay Ruby, we all have a few questions for you, things we really need to discuss", Blake starts, "how could you? That is my question. Are you really that childish to fall in love with the first person who's kind to you?"

"Well I'm not exactly in love with _Jaune_ am I?", implying that he was the first person who was at least somewhat kind to me, "And I may be younger than you, but I am not childish. Roman was a criminal, but he was given full liberation for all he's done. He's been forgiven Blake! And it wasn't all his fault, he was only following orders", I stand up for my boyfriend.

"Okay", she sighs, "that is all. Weiss?"

Weiss, who's standing in the corner of the room as far away from me as possible, nods and begins, "Did you fake being sick the night of our date, so you could go back to see Roman?"

 _Dang, I knew she was on to me_ , "Yes, I absolutely, most positively was. I don't like you as more than a friend and seeing all of you torture Roman didn't exactly make me feel better".

"Oh my God, you watched us beat up your boyfriend", Yang says in slight shock, "How did you manage to keep it a secret? That's my only question by the way".

"Well, you thought all I did was lay in bed reading or doing something else boring. You were rarely in our room so you didn't exactly ever notice me being gone. The first time I thought you'd found out was the night you decided that we should go see him, I feared for my life that night. Otherwise, it was really easy", I answer as truthfully as possible.

"Okay. Is everyone ready to move on to phase two?", Yang asked and the others nodded.

"Wait! What about team JNPR? Don't you guys have any questions?", I ask slightly confused.

"Nope, we're just here to make sure none of you run off. This needs to be dealt with", Jaune says rather coldly.

"We're happy for you Ruby, no matter who you love", Pyrrha continues.

I smile at them. They were always the understanding ones, I'm lucky to have friends like them. They've never betrayed me or made me feel left behind, which is extremely nice.

"Okay then, phase two, things we need to discuss. Blake, we're running out of time!", Yang looks at the clock and yells at her girlfriend.

"Are you going to make us have weird meet ups with your boyfriend?", Blake asks quickly.

"No", I say twice as fast, noticing that we really only have five more minutes left of lunch.

"Are we still going to fulfill our vacation plans and are you going to bring Roman with you?", Weiss continues swiftly.

I hadn't really thought about my answers to the other questions, but I knew exactly what I wanted to say to this one.

"Only if you want to is my answer to both", I say.

"Are we going to start acting like a team again and finally start talking to each other again?", Yang asks filled with hope.

"Yes", me, Blake and Weiss say at the same time and start laughing.

"Quick group hug?" I ask and everyone seems to agree.

We all, even team JNPR, hug each other until the bells ring. For what feels like the first time in forever, everything was perfect.

We had all agreed that we go swimming on Sunday. At first we'd meant to go to the beach, but it seems to be getting colder a lot faster this year, so we decided to go to Weiss' family's indoor swimming pool. We also agreed that it would be for the best if Roman were not to join us on our first group activity. We didn't have anything else planned yet, but we'll think of something in time.

After our little meet up, I grabbed my hat off the rack and hurried to my next class, which thankfully was with the always forgiving Mr. Port. He never really minded that we were late, no one was ever punished. Every time someone is late he says the same thing, "we can't always be on time", which is surprisingly true.

None of my friends were in this class with me, which was a bummer. I'm surprisingly good at Grimm studies, even though it may seem like I don't care. The rest of my team seem to be adequate at it, but I've been told that I'm above average. I remember a year or so ago, when we'd all just arrived in Beacon, Weiss claimed that I wasn't taking my studies seriously. She couldn't have been more wrong. I'd already been perfectly aware of what I was doing. I'd already studied most of the things we were learning by myself in Signal. Our dad would buy me all sorts of books and I'd read them throughout night and day. Not only was is fun, but I was learning at the same time and before I knew it I was getting really good grades and was sent to Beacon, although I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with my grades.

This was the last class of the day, meaning that I could go see Roman straight after school. This day turned out surprisingly well, I'd fixed my problems with my friends and actually payed attention in class this time, plus I was never late.

* * *

Class ended and I decided to go and wait for Roman at his workplace. Beacon has its own weapons vault, where most of the weapons are kept in case of an emergency, that's where Roman is most of the time.

After a few minutes of waiting Roman finally leaves the vault and locks the door behind him. He doesn't seem to notice me in the shadows, but I immediately run at him and hug him from behind.

"Hey", I greet him.

"Why hello Red, you seem rather cheerful today, what's the occasion?", he asks surprised.

"My team doesn't hate me anymore, well, at least I hope not. We sort of made up", I start telling him everything on our walk to the cottage.

When we finally arrive at the cottage I've managed to tell him most of the things me and my friends talked about.

"So you're going swimming on Sunday?", he asks.

"Yup! Which means that we need to go shopping", I jump around cheerfully.

"But why? Oh God, please don't tell me you agreed to be in charge of snacks?", he cringes.

"Hey! My cooking isn't that bad! And no, Weiss' family has already taken care of the food preparations. I just need a swimsuit, and while I'm at it might as well buy some more clothes", I say almost in a normal tone, although I still feel rather excited.

"Can't you go alone? I, um, have very important things to do", he lies desperately.

"Roman please, we both know this isn't healthy. I know you're afraid of what people might say, but you have to leave this house someday, might as well be today", I plead.

"Wait a minute", he stares at me in shock, "I'm not afraid of what people might say. I'm not really an outdoors type of person. The thought of people starting to treat you differently scared me, plus I was a bit afraid you might not want to be seen with me", he confesses.

I hug him with so much force he nearly falls on the porch. He immediately hugs me back, which is always nice.

"I love you", I whisper in such a silent tone I doubt he even heard me.

"I love you too", he replies. I'm kind of glad he heard me, cause hearing that never gets old.

* * *

After we separate, we finally enter the cottage. It's always a bit dusty and old looking, but it's like a second home to me. Besides, if I'm bored I can always clean. Roman had chosen the decor himself, everything was mostly black, white or red, although there were some shades of green in the bathroom. He really seems to have an eye for these sorts of things, plus he really enjoys it.

Roman instantly heads toward the sofa, mainly because of the TV and the extremely large amounts of movies available to watch. The turns of the TV and chooses another random movie to watch and presses play. Sometimes I wish my boyfriend were addicted to something normal like fictional characters, but he seems to have an addiction to movies.

I join him on the sofa only to steal the remote from him, turn the TV off and throw the remote somewhere in the distance. Today will not be movie day.

"Hey, I was watching that!", Roman pouted.

I lightly kiss his nose and say, "I know, but you've watched that a million times. Couldn't you make yourself useful and maybe make some food while I sleep? Please?", I plead again. I really am hungry, and a bit tired, plus Roman never cooks and I'm eagerly waiting to taste his cooking.

"Fine", he mutters as he gets up from the sofa and walks towards the fridge.

As promised, I do my best to fall asleep. It's not really that hard, but knowing that your boyfriend just promised to make you food while you sleep makes you feel a bit too excited. This made sleeping very hard all of a sudden.

I notice that the real reason I can't sleep is that the sofa is so bumpy. _How does he manage to sleep here?_ I get up and walk to the bedroom where I immediately fall on the bed, snuggling against the soft covers lying around the bed. This time I fall asleep almost instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

I wake up screaming, with Roman next to me endlessly trying to calm me down. Didn't he notice that I was asleep? Why on earth was I screaming? Should I stop?

"Roman", I mumble with my extremely dry mouth, "what happened?"

The worst part about this is that I have no idea what just happened. Why on earth would I wake up screaming? What the heck did I dream of? There must be something wrong with me, as per usual.

Suddenly a glass of water was given to me, naturally I drink it. Roman's strong arms wrap around me, pulling me toward him. I must've scared the crap out of him, he's already afraid of losing me to the White Fang and Cinder.

"Don't ever do that to me again", he whispers in my ear. _Yup, I definitely scared him to death._

"Didn't I already promise you that?", I ask sarcastically.

"So you broke your promise", he laughs, "what happened to 'I intend to keep my promises'?"

"I don't believe I've ever said that?", I say confused.

"Well you should, that's what heroes do", he chuckles and plays with my hair.

"I'm not a hero, at least not yet. Some day I intend to save the world from all harm, but that day will not come for a long time", I sigh.

Roman continues to chuckle at my sudden depression, which is totally like him. I get up from the bed and start brushing my now tangled hair.

I groan, "is the food ready yet?", I stare at the clock only to notice that it's already 6PM. I hadn't planned on sleeping for four hours, but I guess I really needed it. But wait, if I slept for four hours, why did I only now start screaming? This is so confusing.

"Honey, the food has been ready for two hours. I didn't want to wake you so I left some for you in the fridge", Roman says.

"Don't call me that", I snap.

"What, 'honey'? Would you prefer 'sweetheart' instead?", he asks innocently.

"No. Just call me Ruby".

"Okay Red", he grins.

"You're impossible", I groan as I turn towards the door.

"I'll have you know that I'm completely, 100%, possible", he snickers back at me.

I guess Roman isn't the type of person who takes things seriously, which I kind of already knew. I suppose he does take certain things seriously, just not the ones I prefer. Although my nickname isn't a matter to be taken seriously, I guess I'm just rather keen on 'Red'.

* * *

I leave Roman alone in the bedroom and walk towards the kitchen, where a pile of dirty dishes await cleaning. Roman isn't lazy, he just doesn't seem to know how to turn on the dishwasher. I don't think he could manage a day without me, I'm surprised he's even alive.

Roman seemed to have made some lasagna, which is a pretty simple dish considering that all you need to do is pile food on top of even more food. It does still look very delicious.

I open the plate drawer only to find that it's completely empty. It seems that before eating I have to do the dishes, or at least refill the dishwasher. It only takes about five minutes, why on earth would someone try to slack off from their duties the pile only grows bigger by time.

When I'm finally done, I grab myself a plate and start munching on the cold lasagna. It didn't taste as good as people said it would, so I pop it in the microwave and slowly wait for it to heat up. I hear the TV has been turned on again, _damn you Roman always watching movies_. I don't really mind, but I would rather prefer him doing something more profitable. He's really artistic so I guess I could buy him a paint set or something, although I'm pretty sure the house would be filled with paintings by the end of the day.

When the lasagna is done cooking, I grab myself a fork and finally start eating. I didn't know Roman's cooking skills were this good, the food tasted heavenly. I don't understand, if his cooking was always this good how could've he been poor once? With food like this he could make fortunes!

Roman seemed to have heard my sudden excitement, since he was already behind me watching me jump around the kitchen. He laughed once more and I'll admit, I am pretty weird sometimes.

"Red, what are you doing?", he chuckles.

"Eating", I mumble.

"Do you always jump while eating?", he grins. Is he trying to earn some adoration, cause it's not going to work.

"Would it help if I said maybe?", I cringe.

"Nope, definitely not", he says and kisses my nose, which makes me even more jumpy, but he just laughs.

"Roman?", I pause just to get his attention, "where did you learn to cook like this?", I ask.

"In case you haven't already noticed, I have a lot of free time. Some time last year I decided that I might as well learn a new skill, and cooking seemed easy enough", he admits.

"I didn't ask why, I asked where", I grin.

"I thought it was obvious. I couldn't really go outside venturing around Remnant as a well known criminal, so I taught myself. I got a few cookbooks and began cooking all sorts of things. I remember once my house was so full of food I decided to leave it on the streets, knowing sooner or later someone would eat it, and they did", he laughed.

The grin on my mouth grows even wider, I guess he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, but I sure was.

"You helped the poor", I giggle, "you helped them!"

His face fills with embarrassment for a moment, and he tries desperately to hide it, "I have no idea what you're talking about", he says and turns his head away.

"You, Roman Torchwick, helped the poor even though you were a criminal!", I tease.

"So what if I did?", he admits and decides to look back at me.

I jump at him wrapping him in a huge embrace, "I knew you weren't all bad, I'm so proud of you", I whisper.

"Whatever", he groaned, "can we not talk about this anymore? It's making me uncomfortable. Weren't we gonna go shopping?", he asked.

I release him from the hug. I'd already forgot about shopping, sure we could stop talking about this, but we no longer have time to shop, since all the good clothing stores close at 7PM. That would leave us about half an hour to shop, since the walk would take a while. It wouldn't even give us enough time to shop in one store.

"Tomorrow?", I plead desperately.

"Fine, but only if we stop talking about my past, deal?", he bargains.

"Deal", I was going to forget about it soon anyway since it was annoying him, but gaining something at the same time was not a bad thing.

Tomorrow Roman will take me shopping and it'll be amazing. After finding the perfect bikini we'll go to the nearest clothing printing store, where I'll be able to print my own rose symbol on it.

A few years ago people started noticing how many people had begun to stitch their own symbols on their clothes. This led to many shopkeepers creating their own companies made just for printing on clothes. It was a huge success, everyone enjoyed it until they no longer had clothes without prints. The shopkeepers slowly but surely closed down their shops without knowing that soon a new era of youth would rise, making their lives bloom once more.

Some shopkeepers refused to believe that the printing era was over and decided to keep their shops, which led to fame and riches beyond belief. One of these shopkeepers was the newly deceased Mr. Fine, whose family owns the company Fine Print. It didn't have a catchphrase, the name spoke for itself. The store is known not only for its exquisitely fine prints, but also for Mrs. Fine's delicious cupcakes sold in the lobbies. Not everyone has them, but the one in Vale does and they taste incredible.

I'd gotten so lost in my thoughts I'd forgotten that Roman was still next to me, carefully studying my every move. Thinking about cupcakes without actually having any is very annoying, which gave me another thought.

"Roman", I started, "we're going to bake cupcakes!", I screamed in joy while he groaned mortified.

* * *

That evening we'd baked a huge pile of slightly burnt cupcakes, and by slightly I mean really burnt. I was in charge of the oven, which honestly was a really bad decision. Our original plan was to have the frosting red, but as usual the coloring messed things up and it turned out pink. They still tasted as good as ever since Roman was the one making the batter. We had a few that weren't burnt at all, because Roman decided that it was best if I just watched, and I agreed.

After that, we decided to watch a movie and eat. The movie was about a girl whose parents had been murdered a few years back, and now their killer was after the girl. It was a horror movie, but neither one of us seemed to mind. The end was really confusing, the killer had actually been the girl's other persona and by killing the actual girl the persona would rise and have full control over the body. Like I said, it was confusing.

By the time we were done, we noticed that it was already 9:30PM.

"Do you have to go?", Roman whined as he hugged me.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to play by the rules, not my fault you turned good", I throw a sassy remark at him.

"But rules are meant to be broken", he hugs tighter.

Roman was clearly not ready to let go. I seriously wonder how he'll manage on Sunday without me, even if it is for just a few hours. He'll probably watch another movie and explain the whole plot to me once I return, which should be fun.

"That's what criminals say, but you're not one anymore, right?", I tease.

"Would it help if I said no?", he cringed.

"Shut up, you're nice", I kiss him on the cheek.

"Whatever Red", he laughs.

"Remember, we're going shopping tomorrow. I'll come get you-"

"How about I come get you?", he interrupted, "I'll be there at 11AM?"

"Sure?", I say a bit confused. He never leaves the house unless he absolutely has to, _what's he up to?_

* * *

We said our goodbyes and I finally left for the dorm rooms. It was actually a lot darker than I'd expected. The starts were nowhere to be seen, they were all behind the deep dark clouds. I'm surprised there even are any at this time at night, they usually scatter away. The moon was shining bright in the sky, it's surface looked like it was slowly scattering away, but it was just an illusion.

It was once again cold, buying clothes for the winter was inevitable. Normal people have their winter clothes made exactly like their normal ones, but I prefer to have the real deal, in red and black obviously. Weiss' family has a huge winter clothing line, which produces a lot of high quality clothes, I could buy some from them. They're also very fashionable, but that's not something I really care about. The only thing keeping me warm right now was the small box of warm cupcakes in hands, which I was going to give to my team.

The walk seemed to take ages, like I was going nowhere. It was cold and dark, I had no idea where I was walking anymore. Thankfully the streetlamps went on in the distance, so I could see where the school actually was. It was in the exact opposite direction of where I was originally headed.

I reach the dorm rooms just a few minutes before 10PM, meaning I have a few minutes to relax in the cold air before actually going inside. It was so calming the quiet night and it's cold breeze. I never really was a fan of the winter, anything cold at all, but somehow it just made me feel so relaxed.

I reach for the door handle, which reminds me of this morning when I couldn't get back in, only this time it was open. The doors were to be locked in about thirty seconds or so, which meant I had to hurry if I actually wanted to go inside.

The hallways were as noisy as ever. In my opinion it should be much more silent, considering that the color scheme here was a soothing red, which always makes me feel calm. Most of the noise was coming from either team CRDL's or team JNPR's room, which I can totally understand. Team CRDL was always fighting whether it was one of their teammates or someone else. Nora is the loudest person I know, which is why I'd understand if it were coming from their room. Although it could be both of their rooms, since they're quite close to each other.

I leave the noises be for now and head towards the door of my own room. Weiss had very kindly decorated our door with stickers that spelled out 'RWBY', even though we're all pretty sure that the teachers will not take this lightly. This isn't going to be our room forever so teachers encourage us not to leave anything permanent behind, which in my opinion is pretty reasonable.

I open the door with my scroll and step in. The room was pitch black, all the lights were turned off. I start to worry about my team and hastily turn the main lights on.

"Surprise!", my team yelled once light spread across the room.

"What the heck is this?", I ask.

The room was filled with party favors, yet the only people in the party were us. This must be another one of Yang's ideas. There were streamers and balloons everywhere, my bed was absolutely filled with all sorts of colorful things. Somehow they'd managed to fit a table in the little room we had, and on top of that table lay a huge cake, which looked more unhealthy than a thousand bowls of sugar.

"We decided to throw us a party, for getting the gang back together!", Yang screamed in happiness.

"Took you long enough", Weiss complained, "we've been waiting for hours".

"Sorry, I was a bit busy", I apologize, "I made cupcakes though", I say as I offer them the pink cupcakes.

They all seemed bedazzled over them, but Weiss actually seemed impressed, "Ruby! I didn't know you could cook, at least not anything this beautiful and delicious!", she screamed in excitement as she ate some more.

"I merely helped, it was my idea of course, but Roman's the one who's in charge of baking and cooking in our relationship", I say cheerfully. I'm glad they liked them, maybe this'll raise their opinions on him.

They all nearly choked as they heard my words, "Roman made these!?", they all screamed in unison.

"What's wrong?", I ask even though I already know the answer.

"It's nothing, really", Blake chuckled nervously.

"What happened to being honest?", I ask innocently.

Blake and Weiss once again decide that Yang should do the difficult talking, "Sis, they don't still exactly trust him, they must think he's trying to poison them. I for one am stunned, these are amazing!", she gestures at the cupcake she's holding, "my regards to the chef", she winks in approval.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Blake stare at us like we're crazy. I don't really need their approval, as along as they don't mock him directly in front of my face.

The rest of the night we spent mostly eating cake and talking about the things happening in our lives. Weiss and Yang did most of the talking, I doubt no one wanted to hear about my life and Blake was being her usual quiet self.

When we finally decided to go to sleep, it was already 12PM. We were all super tired and really looking forward to sleeping, and so we did. This time there were no nightmares.

* * *

 **AN~ Yeah so that just happened. Thanks everyone for your positive reviews, they're always fun to read and reply to. Until next time then ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

Thank God there's no school today, waking up at 10AM would cause so much havoc in my life. Roman said he'd come get me at 11AM, which meant I had about less than an hour to get ready. The times for breakfast had been over an hour ago, which meant I had literally no food, since cake isn't really something you eat once you wake up. I'll just grab some lunch while we shop.

Blake was the only one still sleeping, both Yang and Weiss were gone, they'd probably left for a walk or something. I really hope Blake doesn't wake up before Roman comes, that would not end well. I believe she's trying to understand my situation, but she can't fully understand anything until she's over her own childishness. I want to believe that Weiss is once again on my side, but sometimes she really dislikes me, that could be just Weiss being herself though.

I silently put my clothes on and mentally prepare myself with a day outside alongside Roman. Shopping with him shouldn't be that hard, but I will definitely kill him if he tries anything while I'm changing. Most girlfriends would like their companions opinion on the things they're wearing, but I don't really care for what I wear as long as it's comfortable. Roman on the other hand is a slave to fashion, everything he wears must be in order or he won't go outside. He's a lot like Weiss, even though they both won't admit it.

I usually wear the same thing every day, but it's never the exact same clothes. I have several copies of my current clothes in my closet and sometimes I need to get more, since nothing lasts forever.

Even though Patch is an island, I don't remember ever going swimming in my entire life. Yang says he and dad taught me how to swim as a kid, but I have no memories of it. Let's just hope I don't drown. Buying a bikini doesn't seem that hard, they're like clothes. I'll probably just pick up the first red or black bikini I see, unless of course it's something really obnoxious looking. I'll try to find something simple.

Blake's light snores fill the room as I endlessly search for my one and only handbag I got from Weiss, she enjoys buying me fashionable things. I never really use it, normal people have pockets to store their wallets and scrolls in. Today I'm going to have to start using it, because I'm most likely going to carry all my clothes in it. I hope I don't end up buying too much, I doubt it would all fit.

* * *

Eventually I found it in the pile of junk Yang calls her clothes. She doesn't store them anywhere, they're just lying somewhere in the room. The handbag was full black and it had red chibi Grimms on it. The day I got it I instantly grew fond of it, but I never had a use for it.

I grab the bag and stuff everything necessary in it. Money was never a problem with me, you always gain a bit from missions around Remnant. My mom went on so many missions we were practically flowing with money, my dad had to uphold her legacy once she died. I know Yang thinks I don't feel for my dead mother, but I do, I just hide it extremely well. Hiding my sad emotions is something I've learned to master over the years. Life as a huntress is never sunshine and rainbows, it's always filled with death wherever you go.

A light knock on the door ends my trail of thought. The sound was very careful, nothing really loud, thankfully so Blake doesn't wake up. First I wonder who it could be and I hesitate to open the door, but I check the clock only to see that it's already 11AM on the dot. There's only one person who'd be outside this door at this hour.

I open the door only to be greeted by a huge bouquet of roses. Behind them was the one and only Roman Torchwick followed by both Yang and Weiss, this won't end well.

"Hey sis, guess who we found!", Yang says rather cheerfully.

"Hey guys", I chuckle nervously, "could you determine 'found' for me?"

"Oh, we were just walking around-", Weiss starts.

"They were standing in front of the dorm doors waiting for me", Roman confirms, rolling his eyes.

I laugh, but suddenly something pops into my mind, "I never told you he was coming", I say suspiciously.

"Well, you see Ruby-", Yang says nervously, but was cut off by a yell.

Blake had woken up while we were talking. Her blade was once again set on Roman's neck, one slice could kill him instantly. Roman didn't seem too worried, but that was normal for him, this has happened before.

"Blake no!", both Yang and I scream, but Weiss doesn't seem too worried, since she was the first to leave the room.

Blake glances our way, but she doesn't seem to understand a word we're saying. Her eyes are still slightly red and groggy from lack of sleep, but that just makes her look even more intimidating.

"Blake, Roman is Ruby's boyfriend, you can't hurt him without hurting her", Yang tries to reason with her girlfriend.

The blade on Roman's neck digs slightly deeper, but not deep enough to draw blood. Roman winces and his tough act slowly falls apart.

"Red, I would appreciate if you could get your cat off me!", he yells.

"Ruby, get Crescent Rose!", Yang yells at me.

"Why?"

"Just do it!", she screams.

I grab my trusty scythe from under by bed and run back to the 'almost murder' scene.

"Wield it", she says and I follow her orders, "now take me hostage!"

I knew instantly what her idea was. I grab Yang and press the blade of Crescent Rose against her neck, just like Blake did with Roman. I don't enjoy holding my own sister hostage, but if that's what it takes to get Roman back Blake, I'll do it.

"Blake Belladonna!", I scream to get her attention, "you have five seconds to release Roman or I kill your girlfriend!"

I can see worry and fear in her eyes, she seems to be debating on whether she should kill Roman or let Yang die. If I were her, the choice would be obvious, I'd choose Yang. I would give up my endless revenge schemes for the person I love in a second, but that's not what Blake would do. It was taking her awfully long to choose between a criminal or the love of her life. Yang must've noticed this as well, since I could see tears dripping from her eyes, she feels betrayed.

* * *

After a few more minutes of thinking Blake finally releases Roman. I run up to him and begin crying in terror, what would've I done if she'd killed him?

Meanwhile, Yang walks up to Blake and slaps her, which was a surprise to us all. The slap was cold and hard and Yang showed no regret on her face, her eyes turned red though.

"How dare you! That's my sister's boyfriend!", she yells as she prepares to punch Blake, "He could've died!", she yells again, her fist hits the wall just next to Blake's face. The punch left a huge crater on the wall, a few more hits and it would go through.

I love the thought of Yang defending Roman, but she seems to be destroying her own relationship, her own happiness, in the process. What Blake did was cruel, but I would at least try to forgive her if she'd say 'sorry'. Blake however was not one to apologize to criminals, or anyone else, which made this situation much harder than it had to be.

Yang walks away furiously, slamming the door shut behind her. I stop crying, grab my handbag and Roman, then walk out of the room without even glancing back.

* * *

 **AN~ *Pyrrha voice* I'm sorry!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN~Sorry I didn't release this chapter yesterday, I was on somewhat of a vacation and I didn't have access to the computer. I have also decided to release chapters weekly, cause it's becoming kind of stressing for me to always be ready to release one in time. Friday will most likely be that day of the week then. If I'm bored I might release some short stories like Neo's Day Out, just cause I can.  
**

* * *

Yang had already been gone once we left the room, she was nowhere to be seen. I doubt she and Blake will be talking for a while, she must've gone to find Weiss. She and Yang have become much closer, they're like best friends now, they always talk to each other when they feel bad, which I'm glad about. Our team always finds something to worry or be sad about, and honestly everyone needs someone to talk to. I have Roman, Weiss has Yang and vice verse, Blake often keeps her emotions locked up inside her, but sometimes she talks to Yang. Yang seems to be the understanding one in our team.

We walk out of the dorm house in silence, I wipe my tears just before Roman opens the door.

"Why are you still crying?", Roman asks sincerely.

"I'm just thinking about what I'd do if I'd had lost you, none of my ideas so far have been happy", I silently weep.

Roman takes my hand and I look up at him questionably with tears in my eyes, "Well, I can't exactly hug you in front of all these people can I?", he chuckles.

He was right, there were loads of people in front of the building. What on earth did Yang and Weiss do? How much of a scene did they cause? A lot of people were looking at us, which was odd. All I'm doing is dating an ex-criminal, nothing too weird. Are we famous now or something?

A few days ago some reporter had caught me and Roman hanging out on his porch and decided to take a few pictures. Now everyone in Remnant knows about our relationship, all of Vale was already bad enough. Thankfully my dad hasn't heard the news yet, but Yang will probably tell him the next time he calls, as usual. We had planned on having a family reunion next week, but dad was called on a mission and we decided to abandon the idea. In all honesty I'm glad we won't have it, because now I can spend more time with Roman.

We walked out of Beacon, the streets were filled with people defending the Faunus rights and merchants selling all sorts of junk. I was slightly intrigued by it all, but Roman determined that we kept on with our journey.

"Can't we just look around for a bit?", I whine.

"We came here for one thing: clothes, and once we're done with that, we're leaving", he says rather strict.

Roman was not enjoying the city life, people were staring at him and taking loads of pictures of us. _I guess we are celebrities._ I heard someone make a rather mean comment about his mother, Roman's hand tightened around mine. I decided that we should leave the streets, I pull him to the first shop I see.

We were in a clothing store, at least mostly, it also sells loads of jewelry, bags and different kinds of hats. This is the place we're going to shop in.

"Do you always shop here? It looks rather fancy and definitely not cheap", Roman says as he looks around the surprisingly large store.

"Definitely not. I've never even heard of this place, it looks nice though", I say actually intrigued.

I walk around the store and see loads of clothes that I would absolutely wear. Loads of different kinds of cloaks and combat skirts, my color and size too. I run towards them, instantly looking for price tags. They were rather cheap for a fancy looking store, I grab loads of different pieces of clothing and neatly put them inside my shopping basket.

I look around for Roman, but he's nowhere to be seen. Suddenly my vision goes dark, I cannot see a thing.

"Too big?", I hear him say.

"I'm guessing you've found the hats then?", I giggle as I lift the extremely large hat off my head. It's a lot like Roman's, but it's more red than it is black, my type.

"You seem to be rather fond of mine, so I thought you'd like one of your own"; he says, "but clearly this one's too big", he chuckles as he takes the hat and walks away.

I've never been a hat person before, but I seem to have an addiction when it comes to bowler hats, Roman's in particular.

I walk towards the swimwear, there's a lot of it. Everything looks a bit too revealing, but I manage to find a rather normal looking black bikini. It cost a little more than one of the cloaks I'd bought, which I found rather surprising. I decide to buy it anyway, I doubt I'll ever find a more normal looking bikini in this store.

* * *

After a few minutes of searching, I finally locate Roman. He's looking at more hats, for both himself and me. The collection of hats this store had was enormous it's like hat heaven, which must be why Roman is enjoying himself so much. I'm actually kind of glad I found this store now. _How to make your boyfriend happy again, step one: enter a random store._

I walk up to him while he's trying on different kinds of hats in front of a mirror, which I for some reason find amusing. At the moment he's trying on a weird floppy hat with a feather, it was mostly black, but had a white lace on it.

"You should get that one", I laugh, "it looks really weird on you".

"Since when did 'weird' mean I had to buy it?", he chuckles as he steps away from the mirror and hands me a hat.

It's much like the bowler hat he put on me before, but a lot smaller. It was dark red, much like the shade of blood, and it had a black lace around it. It didn't have a feather like Roman's did, but I could easily find something cool to decorate it with. I decide I want to buy it, even though I've already used a lot of money inside this one store.

"Well, I'm done with all my clothes now, are you ready to go?", I ask as I head towards the cash desk.

He places all the hats he'd gathered on their rightful places and replies with a simple, "Yes".

"Aren't you going to buy anything?", I ask him slightly confused.

"I already have everything I need", he says as he follows me, "I don't know if I told you, but I went back to my old apartment the other day and grabbed everything useful or with sentimental value".

I stare at him slightly shocked, "What if something would've happened to you? I had no idea where you were, you could've died!", I try very hard not to scream.

"I can defend myself just fine", he says as he gestures toward Melodic Cudgel, his cane.

"But what if something would've gone wrong? What if _they'd_ attacked you?", I shiver thinking about his ex-co-workers.

"Red, I'm fine", he assures me, and this time I believe him.

I pay for all of my things at the cash desk and the nice old lady at the desk kindly helped me shove them in my bag. I didn't ask for her help, she just was there when I was done with paying.

* * *

We walk out of the store, Roman seems to be more happy than he was before, which was nice. This time no one was staring at us or calling us names, even if they were, I don't think I'd have cared.

We'd pretty much done all out shopping in that one store, I don't even remember its name, so all we have to do now is go to Fine Print, and we're done for the day. We could go get some food, I haven't eaten at all today.

I still feel a bit anxious about what Roman told me, but I'm starting to feel okay with it. I'm sad he didn't tell be about it in the first place, but I want to believe he was just keeping me safe. Life as an ex-criminal must be very hard, especially if you have a weird girlfriend obsessing over your safety. I just don't want him to get hurt, I don't know what I'd do without him.

The streets of Vale are always filled with wacky stuff being sold on the streets, whether it's food, clothes or furniture. We've walked past so many restaurants I feel like I'm dying of starvation.

Fine Print was still miles away, well not literally miles, but really far away. It's located around the middle of Vale so it's easy to find, the only bad part is walking there. Having a bike or a motorcycle wouldn't hurt, Yang's lucky she doesn't have to walk everywhere.

I wonder where Yang is. She and Weiss must've caught up at some point, I hope they're having a healthy conversation about Yang's relationship. I really don't want to have a weird awkward feeling going on in my team because of Roman, even though that's already happening, but this is worse.

"You want some?", Roman asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

We've landed ourselves in front of an ice cream stand, Roman seems to be first in line, waiting for my order. The man behind the counter is patiently waiting for my response, but the people behind us just want to get through.

"Strawberry", I say. I really like them, so strawberry flavored ice cream is a safe choice.

The clerk scoops us two cones of ice cream, strawberry and vanilla. Personally I've never been a fan on vanilla ice cream, but Roman seems to be enjoying himself. I lick the ice cream so it doesn't instantly melt on my hand, it tasted as good as strawberries, maybe even better. The cold chill of it really relaxed me, but the food itself brought no satisfaction to my hunger. I'm still as hungry as ever, maybe even a bit more.

"Roman", I ask while we're walking towards our next shop, "can we go eat somewhere? I haven't eaten today", I say sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell me before? We could've gone to so many nice places", he grins.

"I don't care where, as long as there's actually edible food", I respond.

"I know just the place", he says and takes my hand, pulling me away from our course.

* * *

We end up in a rather strange looking alley. Everything's dark even though it's noon, I can still see people lurking in the shadows. These people must be homeless, they're of all ages and genders, human and Faunus. They all seem pretty miserable, their clothes are all dirty and broken. We're outsiders, and judging by the looks they're giving me, we should leave as soon as possible. This place doesn't look safe at all.

"Roman, are you sure this is-", I start.

"Just a minor short cut, we're almost there!", he says pulling me out of the alley.

This time I've been taken to a much lighter place, it's a lot warmer too. We're in front of a small noodle stand, there's no one else around. What is this place? The clerk is gesturing us to come towards his stand, and we do. I slowly go through all the food options, but I have no idea what to pick, they all look so tasty.

"Roman, I don't know-", I start. People seem to enjoy interrupting me.

"The usual Mr. Torchwick?", the clerk asks. He knows Roman. What is this place?

 _Mr. Torchwick?_ It was hard not to burst into laughter, this is priceless.

"Two", Roman replies bluntly.

It takes a few minutes to prepare noodles, but that gives me more time to think. The clerk knows Roman, which may or may not be a good thing. Are they friends or something, or is Roman just a regular customer? The clerk looks rather old, in my opinion I have absolutely no idea why Roman would hang out with him, or even know him.

* * *

The noodles are ready and Roman pays for the both of us. We walk away from the stand and sit down on a street bench. The noodles smell really good, Roman has already started his, which is no surprise to me. I bet, soon he's going to ask me to share mine.

We eat in silence, as usual. The noodles taste absolutely amazing, I have no idea how I've never heard of this place before. I could eat this all day long for the rest of my life, I don't think I've ever liked noodles this much. When Roman was done, I was only half way through.

"Share?", he grins.

"I knew you were going to say that!", we laugh, "nope", I say as I continue eating.

"Are you sure you wanna do this again?", he chuckles.

"I'm even more hungry than last time, if you're not going to let me eat this, you're going to have to make food again", I say.

"I'm going to have to make food anyway", he says matter of factually.

"True", I giggle.

* * *

I end up letting him eat some of my noodles, it was the least I could do, he did buy them after all. After we ate, we continued our journey to Fine Print. We were actually pretty close to it and were there in under fifteen minutes.

The store was huge, there were about ten desks to have your clothes printed at, since the lines would've been really long with one desk. We walk towards a line and begin to wait for our turn.

"I've never been here before", Roman says slightly intrigued by the room.

"Where do you have your clothes printed at then? Or wait, are you extremely good at sewing as well?", I say sarcastically.

"Nope, I had henchmen for that", he replies bluntly.

"Okay", the conversation has now become awkward, "Well, could you go grab some cupcakes for me from the cafe while I wait in line?", I ask.

"Didn't we just make cupcakes?", he replies with another question, classy.

"Yes, but I really want you to taste these", I lie, of course I want to have some for myself too. By some I mean a lot, maybe even all of them.

"Sure", he says and leaves me waiting.

Slowly but surely the line moved forward, there were about three people ahead of me. The actual printing only took about two minutes or so, but explaining how and where you wanted something printed took most of the time. Some people print all of their clothes at once, which is very slow. Thankfully I only have one thing in need of printing, it should take less than ten minutes.

When I finally reach the desk, the clerk smiles at me and says, "Hello and welcome to Fine Print, what would you like?"

I take out my bikini and shortly explain every small detail about the print. I give her a picture of my symbol, thankfully it isn't too hard to print. She checks the measurements and I wait for her to certify the purchase.

"Would you like anything else? Just yesterday we started creating custom pins, would you like one?", she asks kindly.

She's not exactly making me buy anything, but a pin of my symbol would definitely be handy. I decide to take two, one normal size and one that's a bit bigger. The big one I'm planning on putting on my new hat. I don't exactly have plans for the small ones, but they're actually really nice.

I pay for all my purchases and stuff them in my bag. I check the clock, it didn't even take me ten minutes even though I bought more than I'd planned to.

Roman must still be waiting in line for the cupcakes, I should go to him. The cafe was never far from the desks, usually they were behind them or upstairs, like in Vale.

The cafe was pretty empty, a few people waiting in line. None of whom were Roman. I look around for him, but all I see is his hat on a table on top of a box of cupcakes. Where is he? Why did he leave his hat here? My thoughts fill with worry, what if he was kidnapped? I start to panic, I grab the things and run around the store looking for him.


	8. Chapter 8

I quickly searched both floors, he was nowhere to be seen. He's been kidnapped, I finally accept it. I fall on the floor, close my eyes and break to tears, my life has officially lost meaning. He's probably already dead and I was too late to save him. People must be staring at me, a _child_ crying in the middle of a store full of people. They would probably kick me out for making the clients feel uncomfortable. Roman was taken from me, right under my nose. Just like that. My heart slowly and painfully broke into tiny pieces, this was the most horrible torture there was. He'd only been gone for a few minutes, I should've never asked him to get me cupcakes. Now he's gone, all for some damn treats!  
I never realized how much a person could cry over someone, until now. I haven't cried this much since my mother died, this is much worse though. My life is over, nothing matters anymore, it's worthless.

"Red, people are staring", someone says. I knew exactly who it was, but he wasn't real, he's gone.

I felt someone tug my sleeve, "Red, get up", he says. I refuse to listen to the voice, I must be going crazy.

The voice sighs. Suddenly I'm lifted up in the air, _great, now they're throwing me out_. Struggling is useless, the guards would throw me out no matter how hard I tried. I just lay in his strong arms, staring at the sky as he carries me outside. His orange hair shines bright against the sun, it looks so beautiful. Wait, orange?

I stop crying for a moment, "Roman?", I ask shocked.

"God, Red you are such a child", he says, "why on earth are you crying?"

I kiss him. I can feel the invisible sparks and fireworks cracking around us, it's magical. It feels like the sun behind the moon in an eclipse has come back in its full glory. Roman was that sun, and everything bad in the world was blocking it, but now he's back and I won't ever let him leave again.  
There are a lot of people around us, but I don't care. For a moment, a long one, I'd lost the only thing I truly care about. I don't care what they think, this is our moment.  
Roman seemed rather surprised by the act, but it didn't take long until he was kissing me back. My life had meaning again.

He interrupts our reuniting kiss, "Red don't get me wrong, I enjoy kissing you, but what on earth is wrong with you?", he seems a bit worried.

"I'll tell you later", I wipe tears from my eyes, "I think I might cry some more. Lets go home", I say happily.

I snuggle closer to him, feeling glad to be in his arms again. Some people might say I acted childish by assuming he was kidnapped the very first time I didn't see him, but in the world we live in anything is possible. Roman and I aren't exactly the most liked people in Remnant right now, some people still think it's weird and that he's an awful person taking advantage of me. It makes me sad that others feel so, but I know the truth and some day they will too.

"Are you going to stay in my arms for the rest of the walk?", he asks doubtfully.

"Yes", I answer and he groans.

* * *

When we arrived back at the cottage I commanded Roman to make us some food, since he ate my noodles. I should probably go and bring my new clothes to our dorm room, but I don't want to risk running into Blake. Our team was in the middle of another crisis, this seems to be happening more than usual nowadays.  
Sunday was supposed to be our day off, when everyone was happy and could talk openly with each other, but this has just made it worse. What if someone calls to cancel our plans? What will we do then, all our efforts to keep our team together would go down the drain.

I decide to lay on the sofa, it's always been a good thinking place. I wonder if Roman really watches movies, or does he just think for millions of hours.  
The thoughts of today will just not leave my head, my friends are breaking apart and I nearly lost Roman, and I don't want to lose anyone, ever again. I wonder if Yang felt like this right now, like she'd lost Blake. Except there's nothing really wrong with Blake, she's not gone or anything. She's just not being her normal, quiet and weird self, which is and isn't weird at the same time. It's weird because she would never act against Yang, but completely not weird because Blake herself is pretty weird. It complicated.

I sigh. I can hear Roman stopping what he's doing just to make sure I'm okay, but he doesn't say anything. He already knows what's worrying me, since it's pretty obvious. I have no idea what I'd do without Roman, I'd probably manage without one of my teammates since I'd have more, but without Roman I'd literally die of pain and heartbreak. We haven't even been together for long, yet still I feel a deep connection with him like he understands me when no one else does. I do not want to lose that connection, he's a part of me now and people are going to have to understand that if they want to be around me. Every memory about this day was rolling in my head again.

* * *

Roman was either really fast at cooking or I spent a long time laying on the sofa, because the food was already done. You can't really be a fast cook, food takes a lot of time to actually be properly cooked, so I'm guessing I spent a lot more time on thinking than I intended to.  
I had no idea what Roman had made, but it had some sort of meat and something that looked like mashed potatoes. In my opinion it looked good, but someone very picky would definitely not eat that.

We had another normal dinner in silence, everything was fine until Roman opened his mouth and asked, "What happened today?"

I frown. I knew he wouldn't let this go. The fact that I had just been reminded of possibly the worst feeling of my life wasn't too fun either. I'd been thinking about how I was going to tell all of this to him, but literally no words would come out of my mouth.

"Well I-", I started, but didn't exactly know how to start or what to say.

Roman looks at me slightly confused and a bit intrigued, he gestures me to go on.

"I thought you had been kidnapped, and possibly but most likely dead. It was not fun. At all", I start with the basics only to notice that that was it, there was nothing left to be said.

He stares at me for a while, then starts to laugh. It made me sad how little he took this seriously, but that's just how he is. He had been a criminal after all, and he never got caught, not before I came in.

"Oh Red", he laughs, "why would you ever think that?", he asks a bit more seriously.

"You always panic that I've been kidnapped, why can't I panic over you? Besides, I searched everywhere for you", I pause and look in to his eyes for dramatic effect, "There are still some people who want you dead", I give him a meaningful look, he knows exactly who I'm talking about.

"They wouldn't kidnap me", he pauses to think for a while, "I believe they're after you, since you're the reason I turned them in, it was on the news after all. _Hero girl turns criminal good._ They might come after me, but I can and will protect myself, for your sake", he smiles.

"I appreciate it, but you were gone, what was I supposed to think?", I ask. He opens his mouth to answer, but I am not done, "and where were you anyway?"

"Bathroom", he replies bluntly, "I was in the bathroom".

"That's impossible, I checked there!", I say shocked.

"Did you by any chance check the _men's_ bathroom?", he grins.

"I-", I have no words, of course he was in the men's bathroom! That's the only place I hadn't checked.

"Well, there's your problem", he smiles at me quite mockingly.

He gets up from his chair and walks towards me. Neither one of us was hungry anymore, the food must be cold by now anyway. He lifts me in his arms and carries me to the sofa. It felt odd being in his arms again, only a few hours ago he'd been dead to me.  
We snuggle on the sofa for a while, neither one of us wanted to talk, the only thing we needed was each other. The very lumpy surface still bothered me, but I try not to think about it too much.

* * *

We were both falling asleep, even though it wasn't even 5PM yet. The only sound in the room was our breathing and the clock ticking on the wall. I could also hear Roman's heart beating right next to my ear, it was so calming.

Suddenly my scroll beeps loudly, waking both of us up. _Just when we were about to fall asleep._

"Since when do you have an alarm at 4:47PM?", Roman says as he gets up groggily.

"I don't", I say as I grab my scroll out of my pocket, "It's a text from my dad", I say stunned.

"You have a dad, I thought your family was dead?", he says as he falls back on the sofa.

"Nope. Only my mother", I say, but I'm not sad, it's a fact.

"Well what does it say?", he asks interested.

"I'm getting to it", I open the message, " _Hey Rubs_!", I start, " _My mission ended earlier than presumed.I thought maybe you and your sister could come and visit in Patch, but then I remembered that both of you have school. Therefore I am coming to Beacon, I've booked a plane for Tuesday morning I'll be there sometime noon. See you then, love Dad_ ".

My dad was coming here on Tuesday. He hasn't heard the news of me and Roman. Yang will most likely tell him. _This is bad._


	9. Chapter 9

"What do you mean your dad has no idea we're together? It's all around the news!", Roman asks nearly as shocked as I am right now.

My dad had made it official, he was coming to Vale, to _Beacon_ , in less than four days. He still has no idea that I'm dating a criminal, or anyone as a matter of fact. The only thing he knows is that I helped capture Roman, nothing else. He was so proud of me he sent me a huge cake, but sadly it had got lost in the mail or so the mailman said. I've heard several rumors that the people who work at the post office often eat the edible things sent to people, which I've started to believe.

"My dad doesn't follow the news", I respond. He's much like me, I'm very unsocial and know very little about what's happening in the world around me.

"So basically your dad still thinks I'm a horrible person? And your sister will most likely tell him everything about our relationship?", he asks.

"That about sums it up, yup", I respond slightly depressed.

"Well that seems great?", he slightly questions his choice of words.

"Can we not talk about this right now?"

"Shouldn't we inform your sister about this? Maybe we could try to persuade her into not telling your father about us?", he says as he grabs his pillow and throws it at the wall.

"You most definitely are not allowed to talk to Yang about this! She will probably think you have something against my dad, which is not something we want right now, right?", I question.

"Are you saying that we should keep this whole thing a secret? How rebellious of you Red", he grins.

"I'll tell her tomorrow", I lie, "For now, however, we should keep this to ourselves", I say.

"Sure. Can we just go back to what we were doing before all this?", he asks.

"Sleeping? I don't think that's possible for me right now, I'll probably go outside or something. This room could also use a bit of cleaning, which is exactly what I'm going to do. Clean. You can sleep though", I respond rather quickly.

"Whatever, just don't go outside without me, not after what happened today", he says as he returns to his deep slumber.

* * *

I begin cleaning the room. There was trash in every corner, which made me regret not getting trash cans in every room. Roman doesn't even order food that often and I was still able to find old boxes of noodles scattered all around the room. Outsiders would call this place a dump, but this is like a third home for me.

In my opinion our dorm room is much messier than this, Yang and Blake never clean. I still haven't figured out if Weiss likes cleaning or not, she does do it a lot, but I'm not sure if she does it for fun or not. I clean because it takes my mind off things and since no one else does. I don't want to live in a dirty and dusty room or house, I prefer clean things, and thankfully so does Roman, he just doesn't clean.

* * *

By the time Roman woke up I'd just about finished cleaning the windows, they were the last thing that weren't cleaned. The whole house literally sparkled, I could see my face on the floorboards, it was so clean. It was about 9PM, which meant I'd been cleaning for about four hours. For a normal person cleaning the entire of this cottage it would've taken more than ten hours, but thanks to my semblance I did it twice as fast.

Sadly it was almost time to go, since apparently vacations were no exception to dorm hours. I could ask one of my teammates to let me in after the doors have closed, since they're all there, but I don't want to annoy them at absurd hours. I could also ask Ozpin for a dorm key, but he's the one who came up with the hours so I doubt he'll me of all people sneak in at night.

I quickly put the cleaning products back in the cabinet where I found them, grab my shopping bag and leave towards the door.

"You're leaving already?", Roman gets up from the sofa and looks at me.

"'Already?' It's 9:30PM, the usual time I leave".

"How long was I asleep? And what on earth did you do with my house?", he asks and looks around the room.

"Four to five hours maybe? I lost track of time", I stare at the clock, "Oh, and it's called cleaning by the way, you should look it up", I say sarcastically.

He smiles and walks toward me, "Maybe I will", he says as he wraps his arms around me and lightly kisses me.

"Silly boy", I murmur as I kiss him on the cheek and push him away, "I love you", I say as I open the door and prepare to leave.

"I know", he grins right before the door closes in front of his face.

The cold air fills my lungs the minute I'm outside. The memory of Roman's grinning face still flutters in my mind as I run towards the dorms. This was the kind of relationship I wanted, except for the fact that you can never wake up together in the morning or that your friends and families will never learn to accept you. The fact that you always have to live in fear is also something I dislike quite much. What if one day Cinder and her gang break free from prison? What if the White Fang decides to kill Roman? What if the people we love are actually the people who we fear most? What if Blake actually succeeds in killing Roman some day?

The rest of the world still wants him dead for all he's done, but what happens when he is dead, when he's most likely murdered? Everyone will forget him and move on, except me. I'll still mourn for decades, never accepting the fact that this time the love of my life is actually dead. My friends will most likely leave me and treat me as the girl who never got over her first heartbreak. The thing is I can never get over Roman, if he leaves me my life is over. I'd probably kill myself or spend the rest of my life hunting down all the people who were a part of his murder, slowly but surely having my revenge. Once I was done with all my revenge schemes, I'd recklessly go hunt Grimm and most likely end up dying in the process, no one would find my body and no one would miss me.

I reach the doors to the dorms and go straight in, this time I do not want to think about the happenings of the day. I do not want to think about the fact that my love life might be over in less than four days, just by one visit from my dad. I should inform Yang about this, but the fear of her telling dad about my relationship might end horribly. She might have already heard about the visit and confront me as soon as I step in our room, which would be both good and bad. Bad, because I really don't want to talk about it right now, and good, because then I wouldn't have to awkwardly bring it up.

I step in our dorm room both excited and scared at the same time, expecting three cheerful girls to come meet me at the door once again. This time the only thing greeting me was darkness, the only light in the room was coming from a small candle light up at our table. It's glow was dim and barely brought any light to the room, making it extremely hard to move around. I could use my scroll and light the way, but that would most likely wake up my team.

I throw my bag in what seems to be the corner of the room and run to the bathroom hoping that the light would not wake anyone. I turn on the most dim lights and prepare myself for sleep. I brush my teeth as slowly and quietly as possible, then leave the bathroom.

I manage to take three steps in the darkness before I nearly fall over, thankfully regain balance as I slam my back at the wall. The exact wall that had all of our light switches. _Damn_.

All the lights turn on, literally every single one of them. I prepare myself for the endless screaming of my teammates by sticking my fingers in my ears, only to find that there was no one in the room. All the beds were empty.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?", I ask even though I know that the only person in this room is me.

They must be sleeping in team JNPR's room, although why would they sleep in the same room if they're mad at each other, well at Blake anyway. Blake must've gone to sleep at a hotel or something, but Weiss and Yang are most likely staying in someone else's room. I refuse to believe that they've been kidnapped, I feel like I should learn from the mistakes of today. But if they have been kidnapped and die because of me, I'll never forgive myself.

It's rather odd that the minute there's a fight, they all hate each other and refuse to even occupy the same space. I remember when my team still hated me they didn't want me in the same room as them, but it didn't matter to me. I always stayed where I was meant to be, even if everyone there was against me.

I climb up into my bed, I wasn't planning on going to sleep, but our beds are the only comfortable seats we have. It's not very sturdy, I can hear the light cracking coming from the roof, indicating that the bed is way too heavy. The ropes hanging from the roof don't look too trustworthy either. They're strong, but they definitely won't hold forever. One day we'll have to get rid of our bunk beds, but on that day we'll all graduate from Beacon. Hopefully we'll still keep in contact even though we don't necessarily have to.

The thought of our team falling apart brought tears to my eyes, I don't want to lose them. Even though we fight a bit more often than most teams our bond is strong, there are only so many things that can break us.

* * *

After thinking about the crisis our team is dealing with, I decide to text them. I do not want this fight to go on any longer, this is what they did for me, and what I shall do for them.

" _Our room. Right now. We have a seriously big problem_ ", I type. It had to be inconspicuous, yet somewhat serious. If I'd sent them a message about us having to talk about this issue, none of them would come. I doubt they really want to talk about what happened, but if we're going to have any amounts of fun tomorrow, this had to be dealt with.

If my calculations are right, they should arrive in less than half an hour, wherever they were. I believe Yang will be the first to come considering that she actually has a motorcycle, which is pretty fast. Weiss will probably come soon after, since she can use her glyphs to generate speed. I had a feeling Blake wasn't going to show up, which is why I added the words 'seriously big' to my message.

I know she cares about us, but right now she's mostly pissed at herself, or so I hope. What she did was awful, but I won't hold it against her. It's not her fault she tried to kill Roman, except it was. She tried to kill him and I believe there was a reason behind all of it, not just because she dislikes him. She wouldn't risk losing her relationship with Yang just so she can have her revenge, there must be more to it.


	10. Chapter 10

I was right, Yang was the first to arrive, but she was not alone. Weiss had also rid with her, since they'd been together at the time. Since they had to ride here, it proved that they were not sleeping in team JNPR's room. I didn't bother asking where they'd been, it wouldn't matter anyway. Both of them were eager to know why I'd summoned them here, but I refused to answer any of their questions before Blake arrived.

* * *

It only took a few minutes until we were all in our room, me, Weiss, Blake and Yang. The situation was really awkward, both Yang and Weiss fell silent as Blake entered the room, she didn't look too happy either. Her gaze was locked on the floor the minute she entered the room. I know regret when I see it and this was it, in its maximum.

"Good. Now that we're all here we can begin", I gesture towards Weiss and the door, "Weiss, you're a neutral in this conversation, could you stand by the door and make sure no one leaves?"

She does as I ask without hesitation. She only looks slightly confused, but I'm sure she knows exactly what we're here to discuss. Weiss has always been a quick person, she always understands what people are trying to explain.

Yang looks a bit afraid, she's gone more white than usual. Her eyes quickly glance towards the door, I doubt she hasn't caught up with what's happening. Meanwhile, Blake's eyes are still locked on the ground, she seems normal from afar, but once you're actually close to her you can see that she's breathing faster than usual.

"I'm just going to go ahead and say it then", I start, "Blake, we all know that you attacked Roman today, which caused havoc in our team. We are willing to give you a second chance-"

"We are?", Weiss says amazed.

"- At least I am, but you have to tell us why you did what you did. Not just for Yang, but for me", and Roman, I add to myself.

Blake finally looks up at us, her face looks red and a bit more puffy than usual. Her gaze moves mostly to Yang, who's staring at her with an unhappy face. Blake lets out a huge sigh, then looks back at me.

"I'm sorry", she says, "I can't".

"Why not? Blake what are you not telling us?", Yang nearly screams.

Blake's gaze is still locked with mine, I doubt she has the capacity to turn it right now. She looks like she's on the verge of breaking to tears, which is rather unusual for her.

"Blake, you have to tell us", I say, "If you won't, we'll have to take this matter to Professor Ozpin, and none of us want to do that", I try to make it seem worth doing, and I feel like it's working.

Blake's whole face turns white, she's afraid. Telling Ozpin would definitely start an even bigger argument, which might end up getting Blake kicked out of Beacon. I'm pretty sure that's not what she would want at all.

Blake sighs again, "I have two conditions", she claims, "First, you are most definitely not allowed to tell _anyone_ about this, and second", she pauses to sigh, "please try to be as understanding as possible".

The rest of us nod in agreement, even though we're definitely not going to take this well. If it's something to do with trying to assassinate Roman, I'm going to kill her myself.

I gesture Blake to begin, and she does, "Last night when all of you had fallen asleep, I decided to go on a walk, since I couldn't sleep. I left my bow between the main door so it wouldn't close behind me and I could return at any time. Obviously this meant that I no longer had anything to cover my ears-"

"Get to the point!", Weiss yells.

"Weiss, please!", Yang yells back at her.

Blake sighs, but continues her story, "Anyway, after an hour of walking I bump into this guy, he was also a Faunus. We started talking about the White Fang and how we believed that they were only misguided, not just plain evil-"

"Well that's nice!", Yang says happily.

I glare at her, she should know not to interrupt people by now. Blake however doesn't mind and continues her story, "That's what I thought too, until it turned out that he was actually one of the most high ranked White Fang members himself. I happened to follow him after we 'separated'", she made the air quotes, "he headed straight to the White Fang HQ. I decided that I should confront him, but it turned out to be a horrible idea".

"What happened?", Weiss asks in actual interest.

"He decided to blackmail me. He knew I was attending Beacon and that Roman was there too. The White Fang is after him and they needed someone on the inside to help them take him down, that 'inside man' is now me. If I don't do as they say, they'll come after everyone I love, showing no mercy", she broke down to tears and fell on the floor.

Yang ran up to her and embraced her in a tight hug, trying endlessly to calm her down. Even though their relationship was not in the best condition right now, I could see that they both still cared for each other immensely.

* * *

Blake didn't cry for too long, she gathered herself up and despite the throbbing of her voice continues her tale, "I am to kill Roman Torchwick, or all of you will pay the price. They will not stop until everyone I know and care for is dead, or he is", she pauses, "This morning when he came to our room, I decided it was my time to strike. I didn't take note that Roman actually had people who cared about him now, people who would do anything to save him", she looked at me, "I failed on my mission and now they're after one of you", I can see her eyes fill with the tears she's fighting to keep away.

One of my teammates is now in danger, none of us know who it is, but know we know why. Blake has most likely doomed us all, it's either everyone she cares about or her nemesis, the choice is clear. Blake isn't going to stop until Roman is dead.


	11. Chapter 11

I climb into my bed not caring that the rest of my team still want to talk about it. I pull my blanket over my head to remove the light coming from the lights I'd turned on. Blocking out the yells of my teammates is getting extremely hard, especially when your sister climbs into your bed with you and shakes you. Yang's shaking did nothing however, I was still planning on going to sleep. And after a while, turns out I did.

* * *

This dream was different from all the others, this time I could actually see what's happening, maybe even remember it when I wake up.

I was in a dank room, it was rather humid. The dream was more realistic that any other dream I'd ever had, which made the situation very odd. I was in a small room, there was only one tiny window with bars on it, _am I in a prison?_

The next thing I know is that I'm being dragged out of my room and into an even tighter hallway. There were two men holding me from my shoulders, making it really hard to get out of their grip. I didn't know these men, but by the looks of their outfits they seemed to be White Fang members, the logo was printed on their backs.

I couldn't see what was to come in this hallway, it felt like my vision had been somehow altered into something worse. I already felt horrible, like I hadn't eaten in days. My arms and thighs were bare, filled with bloody scars all over. Walking suddenly felt a lot harder now that I realized I had these. I was in some sort of t-shirt and shorts combo outfit, but the quality of the clothes was nothing to be grateful for.

* * *

We finally reach the end of the hallway and are greeted by a rather tight looking iron door. One of the guards dragging me had to open the door with a key, which meant that you could not get inside without one. I was to be locked inside a room without a way to get out.

The guards never said a word to me, they just pushed me inside the room. Suddenly all the darkness was gone and the room was filled with light. I was no longer in the dank hallways of my prison cell. The guards were gone too, the only person in the room right now is me.

The room's decor was filled with extremely bright shades of red and lots of bright torches all over the room. There were no actual lights, unless they burned with actual fire. I'm slowly starting to get an idea of who we're dealing with.

Speaking of the devil, she just walked inside the room hips swinging and shoes clomping. She was followed by her two henchmen, one green and one gray, but neither one of them was nice. Cinder, Emerald and Mercury all came up to me, staring at me in the most cruel way. Their appearances didn't look normal at all, they were all really dirty, which was very abnormal.

"You ready for some more?", Cinder asks me as she steps closer, drawing flames from her palms.

"More? What do you mean more?", I ask confused.

"Haha! Always with the same questions!", Mercury laughs.

"This is always one of my favorite parts", Emerald points out.

Cinder joins in their laughter, but soon becomes more serious, "This is my revenge-"

"Our revenge", Mercury interrupts.

Cinder gives him a murderous glare, but continues without problems, " _Our_ revenge. We're in jail because of you, and for a while now, we've been getting our revenge, in your dreams. You won't remember any of this when you wake up, at least if Mercury doesn't screw up. Let's just say we're here to burn your skin off and torture information out of you", she smiles viciously at me.

Is she serious? Is this the reason I wake up screaming? It must be. Even in the place I feel most safest in, I'm attacked by my mortal enemy.

Cinder stabs my arm with what seems to be a needle, blood slowly pours out of the small hole. It was not a pleasant experience, but she seems to be enjoying it rather much. Totally sane for an insane person.

None of this is really happening, therefore when I wake up I cannot feel the pain. However in this strange place I can feel every single prick of pain in my body, maybe even twice as painful.

"Shall we start then?", Cinder asks me.

I stare at her with wide eyes, she's kidding right? I can actually feel the fear inside me, it's a very unpleasant feeling. I try not to show any signs of emotion on my face, I wonder if this is what I've done before. I seem to have been here before, or that's what Cinder tells me, so is this the reaction I always have? Being held against your will and being burned is definitely not nice, although how should I know, I remember nothing of it.

"Hm, rather quiet today aren't you? We'll fix that right away!", Cinder says as she throws a few fireballs at me.

I try to stay calm while my life flashes before my eyes, I watch the fireballs slowly come towards me. There are four of them and they would each hit me in time. I feel the pain of the first strike hit me, it's extremely painful. Then the pain doubles, then triples, and finally the fourth ball hits me. It's like your skin is being peeled off with a knife, except it's also being burn leaving black marks all over my body.

* * *

She struck me more than just the four times, I lost count of all the fireballs flung at me. I'd lost control over my body, which was sad, but thankfully it meant that I could no longer feel what was happening to me. It was sad how you couldn't faint in a dream, since I would've fainted ages ago. I must've been losing a lot of blood, because my vision suddenly became blurry. For a moment I thought I was waking up, but sadly that was not the case. It seems blood loss cannot make you faint, but it can cause severe vertigo.

Cinder was enjoying herself way too much, this was not meant to be a happy event. Both Emerald and Mercury had left the room when the firing started, I doubt it was something they liked to see. They were evil, sure, but torture isn't for everyone. I guess they went to make sure I don't wake up or something.

I didn't want to look around me, I already knew that my whole body was in flames, or worse. Even moving my eyes was painful, so I tried not do do it that often. Blinking wasn't easy either, I'm just glad Cinder didn't aim for the head. I wonder what I would look like with flaming hair, that might be something we'll see someday if this keeps going on.

Time didn't go any faster than it did in the real world, which meant that I was most likely to be burned for more than eight hours.

Cinder paused for a while and took a small break, that was when Emerald and Mercury came back, with cookies. They obviously weren't for me, but one can only hope. Once I realized I was hungry I could hear my stomach grumble, which wasn't actually that nice of a feeling considering I was half burnt.

"So did you make sure she doesn't remember anything?", Cinder asks quietly, I doubt she even knew I could hear anymore.

"I knew we forgot something!", Mercury yells and hits his head on his hand.

"Pretty boy here wanted to make cookies", Emerald rolls her eyes.

Cinder grits her teeth in anger, "We cannot have her waking up in the middle of my very important session", also known as torture, "GO! NOW!", she yells at them.

Her henchmen run out of the room in fear, I guess not even they are safe from Cinder. I wonder if someday they'll betray her like Roman did, maybe they'll join us and we'll all be friends. It's not like I'd accept them into our group after all this, but I could at least give it a try.

I could still wake up and remember everything! Roman would know how to help and if not, someone else would. I had less than five minutes until they'd have the system working, but what on earth could I do to make myself wake up?

That's when it hit me, "Hey Cinder!", I croak, "Did you know there's a new name for always failing? It's called Cinder", I've never been one for serving people, but that should do it.

Cinder's eyes burn in fury as she throws more fireballs at me, this time dozens of them. If I could get her to cause me so much pain to wake me up in five minutes, I could still have a chance in having my memories.

"Is that the best you got?", I squeal, that seemed to be all the words I could get out right now. I just hope it's enough.

She seems to be the kind of person who gets angry really easily, which was a good thing for me, since now she was hurling billions of flames at me. I could once more feel the pain in my body, it wasn't too pretty, but I'll survive once I get out. When all the pain hit me, my body decided that it was best if I leave this pain filled place.

I woke up screaming again.

* * *

 **AN~ Okay so, I'm just going to leave this here for a while, cause I'm starting high school next week (woop woop) and I'm not really feeling this whole 'one chapter a week' thing, to be honest I'm not really feeling this whole 'writing' thing at all at the moment. I haven't written anything in over a month now and I feel like I've lost my desire to do so. The only time I even touch my computer is when I post a new chapter.**

 **This fanfic is not going anywhere, it will be continued eventually, seeing I've pre-written most of it, but I'm going to post chapters more when I feel like it. Yes, all the change. There might even come a time when I've run out of chapters to post and need to write new ones, and I don't want that. I don't want to have the feeling that I NEED to post a new chapter and edit it to perfection.**

 **I love writing and I really hope that I'll get out of this huge slump soon, so when I do, be sure to be ready for a bunch of new chapters.**

 **If this Author's Note made any sense, then good, but if it didn't you can always PM me for questions.**


	12. Chapter 12

I seem to have woken up the rest of my team with my screaming, since they were all huddled around me when I woke up. They were all staring at me, Weiss seemed to find my screaming very amusing, since she was giggling. Yang was scared and Blake was trying to calm her down, which was good for them.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry!", Blake cries.

Why is Blake crying, wasn't Yang the one who was scared for me? Blake isn't usually the crying type of person, she always hides her true emotions. Besides, she's never cried because of me before, at least I don't think so.

While Blake cried and Weiss tried to calm her down, Yang stayed with me in bed and whispered calming things in my ears.

"It's all going to be okay", she says, "Blake just blames herself for your freaky nightmare".

 _My nightmare_. I remember everything, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, all of it. I instantly check my body for possible burn marks, and thankfully I find none. Should I tell my team about what really happened, or would that also put them in danger? A part of me wants to tell someone, but I need to speak to who can actually do something to help. My team would go insane, again, with catching them and Roman would never let me out of his sight. Not that I mind never leaving his side, but it would be rather creepy.

The only logical person I could talk to is Professor Ozpin, but I doubt he has time to talk about these sorts of things when he's losing his job. I could also go talk to Glynda, since she's the headmaster from now on, but we've never had as good of a connection as me and Ozpin. It's sad how very little people I know.

"I also go a text from our dad!", Yang continues and squeals, "He's coming over on Wednesday and he'll be staying here at Beacon". _Wait Wednesday!?_ Didn't he say he was coming over on Tuesday? Did he lie to Yang? What if I just got the wrong info, or then Yang did. What if he's really coming on Tuesday and he wants to spend the entire day with me instead of both me and Yang. What if he already knows about Roman and wants to have a talk with me about it?

"How fun..", I respond with fake excitement.

"Ruby, what's wrong?", she asks, "I can see it in your face, don't lie to me!"

I couldn't tell her every single thing that was bothering me, so I decide to go with one of the biggest ones, "It's just that dad hasn't met Roman, and I doubt he'll approve of my choices", I sigh.

Yang stares at me for a while, but starts laughing soon after, "You're kidding?", she laughs a bit more when I nod, "Of course he'll approve! He loves you and only wants you to be happy".

"Roman is an ex-criminal and definitely a bad influence on me, or at least that's what most people say. Why wouldn't dad agree after hearing about Roman's past?"

"True, but dad needs to accept you even if he doesn't want to, just like I did", she says.

Her words shocked me, "So you don't accept my relationship with Roman either, is that what you're saying?", I ask slightly mad.

"I never said that, it's just-"

"No! That's exactly what you said", I scream at her.

All my emotions from the past 24 hours have now started leaking out of me. Even Blake stopped crying to stare at us. Weiss enjoys watching me yell at my own sister for all I know, but everyone in the room was now staring at me.

"Ruby maybe you should calm down", Weiss says.

"All this time Yang, I thought that you accepted my relationship, but in reality you just hid your true feelings away!", I scream again. I wish I'd stop yelling at her, but it seems that I need to get all these emotions out somehow and this seems to be the best way.

"I do accept you! I was talking about myself!", she yells back at me.

"Yang?", Blake asks.

Yang however, ignores her girlfriend and continues to talk to me, "I do not want to accept myself as who I am, because being what I am is not allowed, at least not in our family. Even though I do not want to accept myself, I have to, because that's just who I am", she calms herself.

"And what are you exactly Yang?", Weiss asks curiously.

For a moment I thought she wouldn't say it, but in the end she did, "I, Yang Xiao Long am a lesbian", she says with a courage filled voice.

Blake stares at her girlfriend with pride, Weiss however doesn't react to the news at all. Everyone in our team already knew of this, since it was pretty obvious, but hearing it from Yang herself was a big thing. I doubt even dad knows of this, which brings me to my master plan.

"Well then, I doubt dad knows about this?", I ask her and she shakes her head, "Let's make a deal then shall we? You will not tell dad anything about Roman until you've told him about your sexuality and your own relationship with Blake, it's a fair deal".

Yang stares at me in shock, but seems to agree with my terms as she says, "Yes".

Everything was alright for now, the only thing we had to do today was go swimming. I get up and put some of the new clothes I bought yesterday on. They were really fancy, even though they cost literally nothing.

It was only 10AM, which meant that the rest of my team probably still wants to sleep. I didn't really have anything to do, and I definitely did not want to go back to sleep. I'd already missed breakfast, so I'd have to wait another two hours for food.

* * *

I decide to go visit Professor Ozpin, even though I know he's a very busy man. Glynda would most likely understand my situation and do the best she can to help, but she would not be happy in doing so and I do not want to anger the new headmaster.

The walk to the headmaster's office was not too long, I was there in under five minutes. I once again hit all of the buttons on the elevator, even though it was most likely not allowed. While I went through all of the floors, I got time to think about what exactly I'd say. Maybe I should start with the biggest issue, which is of course the nightmares that seem far too realistic. After that I'd probably talk to him about my dad's visit and ask if it was okay for him to come, since sometimes the teachers disapprove of the students' parents coming here.

When the elevator finally arrived in the office, Ozpin was sitting at his desk, as usual. Glynda was nowhere to be seen, which was probably a good thing considering that the thing's I'm here to talk about are between me and Ozpin.

His office has always been one of my favorite rooms in Beacon, it's always so open. You can basically see everything happening in Beacon from that one window, I could stand there all day, I bet he does. The room was also decorated in his style, nuts and bolts everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if Ozpin is also a robot or if he builds some on his free time. I doubt he has free time though, he seems like a very busy man.

I also wonder what the room will look like when Glynda takes over, would she change the appearance in some way? I truly hope she won't, but the authorities will most likely have everything Ozpin-related out of this room.

"Hello Miss Rose, how are you doing on this fine morning?", he asks as I walk towards his desk.

"Good?", that sounded like a question.

"You must have a rather important reason for coming into my office this early, so spit it out", he went straight to the point, which was something I like about him.

"Nightmares. I am having really strangely realistic nightmares", I answer, "It seems that I've been tortured in my dreams by Cinder Fall. Normally I don't remember these dreams at all, but last night I managed to escape with my memories intact. Most of the time I wake up screaming, which really shocks everyone, including me. You're the first person I've told this information and I hope that you can help me", I rush.

"You're having nightmares of Miss Fall torturing you", he says, "Miss Rose, I can assure you that she's in jail and that she cannot harm you in any way from there", he laughs.

"Then why am I being tortured in my own dreams so realistically that I might even die?", I yell at him.

Coming to the headmaster's office just to yell at him was not something normal students would do, but like people say, I'm not normal. I need to find out what's happening before it happens again. Being tortured to death in my own dreams isn't really something I'd enjoy.

"Miss Rose I believe you're just going through some stress because of your father's visit. Go back to your room and think things out, I have things to take care of", he sighs.

I stammer towards the door, but I never get the chance to leave the room. Glynda Goodwitch herself pulled me away from the door and into her own small office.

Although it was nothing compared to Ozpin's large office, it still had a nice vibe to it. The decor was mostly purple and green, since those were Glynda's favorite colors. Her symbols were all around the room, making it clear that this was her property and no one else's.

There was a rather large desk in the back of the room, with two chairs opposite each other. One for herself and one for the possible visitor, in this case, me. Glynda walks towards her desk and sits at her very posh looking leather chair. It seems that I am also meant to sit down, so I do.

"I might have overheard your conversation with Professor Ozpin just now, and I would like to help you", she says as a matter of factually.

"What do you mean by 'help me'? Is there an easy way out of this?", I ask dumbfounded.

"My dear girl, have you not already noticed that I am a well trained witch? I come from the 'Goodwitch' family after all, we're know for our magic. Have you by any chance been hexed lately?", she asks completely serious.

I for one cannot take this seriously, Glynda is a real witch? Her semblance has always been magic, but that's just because of the Dust she uses. Or is it? Just being in a room with her gives me the creeps, she's never really liked me. The fact that she was still waiting for an answer from me was making me even more nervous.

She stares at me, still waiting for an answer, but what am I supposed to say? 'I know exactly how this happened, because I'm Ruby Rose and blah blah blah', definitely the way to go. If I don't say something soon, she's probably going to throw me out.

"Not that I know of?", I say once again with a question-like answer.

"That's a pity really, since now we have no idea why you're feeling this way", she says pondering on her next words.

There were still some things I wanted to know besides the nightmare thing so I go for it, "Why exactly are you helping me? You've never exactly liked me", I ask.

She quits thinking for a while and stares at me, "I am a teacher and the soon-to-be headmaster, it is my duty to help students in any way I can. Whether it's something completely normal or something really abnormal, I am meant to be there for my students", she says wisely.

I admire her sudden love for us, but even though she's always been at Ozpin's side, we cannot fully accept her as the new headmaster. Suddenly I understand how everyone else feels about Roman, a criminal turning good was definitely going to take time in getting used to.

"Furthermore, I believe that you should drink this potion", she says as she hands me a dark blue potion from her desk cupboard, "It will prevent anyone from altering your dreams for 24 hours. I will have to create a vaccine for a more permanent duration, but that will take a few days. For now take these", she says and hands me two more potions, "and come see me in three days, I should have the vaccine ready by then", she informs.

I stare at her, once again dumbfounded. How could a normal looking teacher like her know this much about magic? Even though it was actually really simple, I found it hard to believe.

I thank her and get up from the soft chair I'd sat on, for a chair it was actually pretty comfortable. Carrying three odd looking potions around would definitely attract attention, so I stuff them in my very small pockets. Normal combat skirts don't have pockets, so it was a surprise when I found out that this one did.

I leave the room and very quietly escape the eyes of Professor Ozpin sitting at his desk, looking like he could fall asleep any minute. He seems to drink a lot of coffee for a reason.

The elevator was not far from where I was standing, so I reached it with ease. Even though Ozpin wouldn't have scolded me for still being at his office, it was good to be careful.

* * *

 **AN~ Guys, I've been in high school for almost two weeks now, and I have come to the conclusion that it's hell. I stress way too much about all my homework and essays etc. so I just simply don't have time to edit out all these. I don't need an editor or anything, I'm fine. Just know that I won't be publishing these as fast as I used to. To be honest, I haven't written anything in four months and I can't really even remember what I've written, so starting it again is going to be extremely difficult. My life also hasn't been in the greatest state for a while, but I'm okay, don't worry.**


	13. Chapter 13

After leaving the offices, I decided that it was best for me to return to my room, like Ozpin had said. Even though I wasn't one for actually following the rules, I still did it for the good of the school, and myself.

A part of me wanted to trust Glynda's knowledge with potions and magic, but a part of me still thinks that she deeply dislikes me. She could be attempting to murder me or something, or then I'm just paranoid, which was the more likely option.

On my way to my room I grab one of the potions from my pocket and drink it. A bitter taste filled my mouth, it was like eating a whole lemon, which as most people know is not fun. Well some people might like it, but in my opinion it's just nasty.

I enter our room, which is still filled with my sleeping teammates. Although I doubt they'd go anywhere while I was gone. Blake might wake up early and go for a walk or something, but she seemed extremely tired last night so I doubt it.

Speaking of last night, I wonder if our meeting was successful or not. I'm not exactly sure if everything's okay with Yang and Blake, Weiss is okay, but what about the rest. As their leader I have to take care of these kinds of things and if everything's not alright with my team, the blame is put on me.

I can no longer sleep knowing that there's a chance that Cinder could still get me. Even though I drank the very disgusting potion, I feel extremely afraid of what might happen. The thought of her someday overpowering the vaccine and being able to torture me again made my face turn white. I knew that if she were able to torture me again I would eventually snap and tell her everything.

I've been trying to figure out what Cinder wants since this morning, which lead me to a few options. She might be after Beacon's secrets or something, but even I don't know those. She could also be after Roman for revenge or worse, love.

I know Roman and Cinder used to be a thing or something, or that's what he thought. It was the only reason he stayed with her really, what Roman thought was love turned out to be a forever lasting deal with the devil. Cinder was obviously tricking him, but he was always too blind to notice.

When Roman and I started seeing each other, I believe that his love was quickly turned towards me instead of Cinder. This lead to him coming out with everything and betraying his former boss. It must've been a very sad moment for Cinder, knowing that one of her most valued partners had left her to die in the hands of the authorities. Even thought I hate Cinder and her lap dogs, I can see why they'd want to hurt me. I was the one who caused Roman to betray them, therefore I should be the main target. Besides if Roman truly loves me, killing me would break him, which is a plus for them.

I notice that I haven't moved since entering the room, I've just been standing at the doorway lost in my thoughts, staring at nothing. My teammates have yet to wake, but they should in a few hours or so.

I wish I could go visit Roman, but it wouldn't make any sense going there for a few hours and then having to return for my team's swimming trip. I was just going to have to wait. Although I could text Roman about everything that's happened, but I doubt he'd be awake to respond.

Nothing interesting was really going on in our room. My teammates were still snoring rather loudly and I was still standing at the door like an idiot.

A part of me wants to wake them all up, but I know that if I do, I'll just end up making them mad. I'd also love to go to sleep, but that's probably not the safest thing to do right now.

Sometimes I wonder what I've done to deserve this, but then I remember that I fell in love with a criminal who wanted to take over the world, at least party. Roman's not evil anymore, at least not completely, sometimes he messes around, but most of the time he's good. Even if he were still a criminal, I'd still love him. In all honesty I think I fell in love with him the very day we met, but that may just be because he was a hunter. It seems I had an obsession with them, but I'm fine now.

If Roman had never been a criminal, I doubt I'd even know him. Obviously I saw him on the news all the time as a child, but I always thought he looked more like a rat than a person. His photo was very disturbingly inaccurate, thank God it no longer exists.

If Roman had always been a normal boy with a normal life, I'd never have met him for sure. He might have gone to Beacon or some other fight school, but he's like years older than me, which means I'd never have seen him in school. I wonder what he would've been like in school, a nerd or a bad boy. Even thought it's pretty obvious, he still could have been some cute nerd boy who no one really cared about. I make it seem so sad, but honestly most nerds don't mind being alone. They have the internet.

I decide to try and read a real book for once, it's been ages since I read one. Most of the time I just use my scroll to go through blog posts or something. There are a lot of weapon fanatics out there. Believe it or not, they've helped me get over loads o personal things. We haven't been able to keep in contact that well since I came to Beacon.

It's not that Beacon doesn't allow people to communicate outside the academy, it's just that most people receive new responsibilities. I for one have a team to take care of, and classes are getting harder and harder each day. This makes me kind of thankful that Weiss insists I study more.

I sit down at the corner of the room and desperately start reading one of Blake's books. Sadly it seems that Blake is currently reading this book. I decide to go grab a new one from our very large collection of books.

Most of the visible books in the bookshelves we have are adventure, but behind them is an even larger amount of romance novels. It's her guilty pleasure.

Personally I'm not one for romance, so I grab a book at random from the front of the shelf. It was either adventure or fantasy, anything else I seem to find extremely boring. By fantasy I mostly mean fairy tale books, but the rest are fine too.

I remember when Yang tried to read me some scifi books, I found them way too unrealistic, but it seems that that's just how they are.

Before I know it, I simply can not take my hands off of the book I'm reading.

* * *

Both Yang and Blake woke up at the same time, at about 11AM, neither one of them seemed very happy about it. Not the fact that they woke up at the same time, but that they actually had to wake up.

I finished the book I picked out in about two hours. It wasn't that interesting, but it was much more interesting than watching my teammates sleep. That came out rather weird. I most definitely do not watch any of my teammates sleep. Ever.

What's also weird is that it was already 1PM and Weiss was still sleeping. This was not only a huge shock for me, but for Yang and Blake too. Weiss was usually the one who woke up early, well at least earlier than everyone else. We've all been waiting two hours for her to wake, but no matter how loud we talk she just won't wake up. Obviously we don't want to wake her up on purpose, it needs to be natural or else she freaks and yells at us, a lot.

During the two hours of waiting, we'd all managed to pack our bags and prepare ourselves for our swimming trip. Yang was still pondering on what she should wear, but otherwise we're all done.

We can't exactly go to the swimming pool without Weiss, since she's the one who owns the whole place. It would be rather weird if we'd just march there and demand to get in. Yang could probably knock out the guards or something, but we'd most likely get arrested or at least have to pay a fine. Jail is not a fun place from what I've heard, and seen. Although it would be nice to trade places with Roman for a while, considering that he was once in jail and I was the one who always visited him.

Right now we can't do anything but wait for Weiss to wake up, and it was going to have to happen on its own. Yang has been asking me the same question on and on, she literally never stops. Blake's reading the book I checked out during my book hunt, and she seems to be enjoying it quite a bit. I can hear strange giggling noises from her direction, which is rather uncommon for Blake.

"Can I wake her up now?", Yang asks.

"For the millionth time, no!", I yell back at her.

"Please? I promise to take full responsibility", she swears, hand on her heart.

Even though Yang has always been the responsible one, and I know I can trust her with everything I have, I still feel like if I let her do it, something bad with happen. Although I would love for Weiss to wake up so that we can actually do something fun for once, other than slaying monsters.

Going with my gut, I give her another "No", and she seems to leave me alone for now.

After a few minutes Yang opens her mouth again, "Can I wake her up-".

Our door was opened, no knocking, someone must have left the door open or something. Honestly I was expecting another strange visit from Nora, but instead of the redhead we got an even weirder visit from our new headmaster. She hurried inside with a pair of keys in her hands, that must be how she got in. Now that Glynda's the headmaster she can go in anyone's room, which is kind of creepy if you think about it.

"Um, Mrs. Goodwitch I'm fine why-", I begin questioning her visit.

"Where is she?", Glynda asks, "Where is Weiss Schnee?", she asks again, but in more detail.

The rest of us were still in shock, at least I was. Why on earth is Glynda looking for Weiss? She isn't exactly known for doing bad things. Maybe something awful happened to her family or their company. It's strange that I always assume its something bad, but I just can't seem to look on the bright side of things anymore, not with people messing with my dreams.

"She's still sleeping", Yang answers her, "Why? Is something wrong, did something happen?", she asks in a more concerned voice.

Blake must have noticed that Yang was worried about Weiss, since she frowned for a while. She just got her girlfriend back and now she's jealous of one of her best friends? Definitely not healthy.

Blake should understand that there's nothing going on between Yang and Weiss, at least nothing that I know of. Now that I think about it, they have been spending a lot of time together and have become rather close, but Yang just needed someone to talk to and I'm guessing so did Weiss. Although how should I know, it's not like either of them ever come to me for advice. Even though my life isn't at its finest right now, I'd still appreciate it.

Glynda ran over to the side of Weiss' bed, looking at her in worry. I don't care what other say, I still believe Glynda truly wants to help the students of Beacon.

"How long has she been like this?", Glynda turns to us.

"Well she hasn't exactly woken up yet", Blake answers rather rudely, Yang gave her a mean stare for that.

"She was awake when I woke up from my nightmare, but after that I haven't seen her awake", I tell her.

"We all went back to sleep after Ruby's little dream", Yang says, "Weiss was the first one to go, to sleep that is".

"I see", Glynda says and thinks for a while, "Ruby may I speak with you in private", she asks and heads towards the door.

"Sure?", I say and walk after her, staring back at Blake and Yang hoping to get some advice, but they just stare back.

Glynda escorts me to the hallway and closes the door behind her. This isn't that private now that I think about it. Someone could walk out of their room at any second.

"I'm sorry, I just believe that this is something that they shouldn't hear", Glynda says, clearly speaking of Blake and Yang, "Weiss is trapped in her dream, just like you were, but she can't get out".

"How?", I ask, but then decide on a much more important question, "Why can't she get out?"

"I'm guessing now that Cinder can no longer harm you, she's going after your friends", she answers, "The reason she can't get out is", she sighs before revealing everything, "she's not strong enough. She's not as strong as you. You could get out when you tried hard enough, but she has to be released in time".

I feel like laughing. Glynda has never been happy that I got accepted to Beacon early, and the fact that she just called me strong must've been extremely hard for her. But I guess now she knows that I actually am capable of going to this school, I wonder how she didn't realize that before.

"We can't have her drinking any potions, it would be way to risky", Glynda says to herself, "and it would still take some time for me to make the vaccines", she pressed her hands on her head and groans.

It must be hard being a headmaster right now, I doubt anyone had problems like these last year. Even though most of the time I can't stand Glynda, I sure am glad that she's here right now.

"I'VE GOT IT!", she yells, causing several students coming out of their rooms, "Maybe we should go back inside?", she quietly says to me.

We head back inside, where Blake and Yang are standing over Weiss, looking at her with worry.

Honestly I'm the one who should be in Weiss' face, trying to help her with everything I can, since I am her partner, but somehow that role seems to switch from time to time. Sometimes it's Blake who acts like Weiss' partner, and sometimes it's Yang, I'm not really there for them that much. The only thing we can do right now is wait, at least until Glynda tells us her brilliant idea.

"Girls, you're going to have to drink some bad tasting blue muck", she says to Blake and Yang, then looks at me, "Ruby, give them your potions".

I grab the potions out of my pocket and look at them for a while. They were the only ones I had, but I'm guessing Glynda could always give me more.

Yang looks at me questioning the potion drinking, but I give her an encouraging look and she takes the potion from me. Blake does the same. They both stare at each other for a while, but manage to uncork the bottles and drink the blue liquid.

"Ew! What the heck is that stuff?", Yang asks while staring down at the now empty bottle. Blake doesn't say a word, she just looks at her girlfriend and giggles.

"That, my dear girl, is a potion", Glynda answers.

"Yeah, we got that much, but what does it do?", Blake asks her.

"Next time, let me finish. It stops people from invading your dreams, sadly Weiss didn't get it early enough. Ruby was the first one of you whose dreams were messed with, I gave her a few of these. She should be fine for the day", she looks at me and smiles, "Sadly the potions only last for 24 hours, but I am in the middle of creating a vaccine with a more permanent duration. Hopefully by the end of next week we can have the whole school, students and teachers, safe from Cinder".

"Cinder? Isn't she in jail?", Yang asks.

"She's the one who attacked me, I'm guessing she found a way to torture people wherever she is", I answer her, talking about Cinder didn't exactly make me feel any better about the whole situation, but I have to try and manage.

"Wait a second", Blake says and points and Glynda, "How did you know Weiss was in trouble?", she looks at her dubiously.

"Dearest Blake, you of all people should know that ones with magic can feel sudden magical changes. That's how I knew Ruby was going to come to me this morning", Glynda smiles at us.

"You're a witch?", Yang asks in shock, "Are you evil?"

Glynda and Blake roll their eyes at her. Meanwhile, I'm trying so hard not to laugh. Yang rarely leaves things unnoticed, and when she does, I love teasing her about it. She always teases me about the things I do, so consider this as payback.

"Young lady, how much attention to you pay to your surroundings, if I may ask?", Glynda asks with a smug face and a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Yang stares at her, trying to think of a snappy comeback, but is obviously failing considering that she just got burnt by the headmaster. I mean her name is literally good witch.

Sadly this is not the time for jokes, our best friend is still under some sleeping curse, or something like that. I just hope Glynda actually has a valid plan for this, since I for one have no idea what to do next. Obviously we need to guarantee the safety of the rest of our team, maybe even the rest of the school.

"So what do we do?", I ask Glynda.

"Well first of all we need to wait for Weiss to wake up, and don't worry, she will wake up eventually. I doubt Cinder or her minions will sleep for too long, they have to wake up some time, and when they do, Weiss will be free from the spell. When she's up, we're going to have to give her a potion too. She most likely will not like it, but I think she'll prefer it to being tortured", Glynda responds as she looks around our room.

Her plan wasn't the best one I've heard, but we don't exactly have another choice. We're just going to have to wait, hopefully not for long. But what if Weiss never wakes up?


	14. Chapter 14

Three hours had passed since Glynda came to our room. Weiss still hasn't woken up, I'm afraid she never will. Glynda's been taking really good care of us all, she's currently handing out potions in the main hall for everyone who feels like they might be in danger. I told team JNPR to go, since they could easily be the next ones in danger.

Yang is pacing around the room like a madman, she's even more tense than Blake, who's practically on the verge of going insane. We've been waiting for three hours for someone who clearly isn't going to wake up in a while, we're all extremely tired. I don't think any of us really even want to go to sleep, considering there's some psycho after us.

Roman hasn't visited me once during the whole day, I'm starting to feel like I should call him or something, to let him know I'm okay. He might have not heard of everything that's going on, he might still think we're all peacefully swimming at Weiss' family's swimming pool. Or maybe he's trapped under the sleep spell as well. The thought of that did not make me feel any better about the situation.

"I think I'm gonna go find him", I tell my team.

I grab Crescent Rose from the table and attach it to my belt. It's pretty handy not having to carry your weapon all the time.

"Find who?", Blake asks with a slightly crazy voice.

"Roman. You know, my boyfriend? To make sure he's okay", I answer slightly creeped out by Blake.

"I'm sure he's fine, we have more important things to worry about, like Weiss", she rolls her eyes.

"My boyfriend is important", I walk towards the door, "and I'm gonna go find him, whether you like it or not", I slam the door behind me. If only that were enough to wake up Weiss.

* * *

There was literally nobody outside, I guess they really are scared of Cinder. Even thought I doubt she'll attack them or anything they still feel the need to hide from her.

I was practically running to Roman's cottage the minute I stepped outside. I just really hope he's not dead or anything. I mean shouldn't Cinder be after Roman too, if she truly is after the people I care about. I sort of wish it were like that, so I'd be sure of her plan, but at the same time I would never want Roman taken from me again.

Thankfully the run to the cottage isn't too long, especially when you're running for your life. The boards on the porch creak under me, making me feel even more anxious. Everything looks slightly abandoned from the outside, but I guess that's the look the builders were going for.

I grab my key to the cottage and open the front door. I step inside and notice that the whole house is dark. All the curtains have been shut and none of the lamps are on, everything seems so creepy.

The sofa where Roman usually sleeps is empty, which I am both sad and thankful for. Thankful, because he isn't destroying his back again and sad, because he's not here.

I decide it's best to check all the rooms before assuming the worst. I go into the kitchen, expecting to find him there, but once again, I'm wrong. I also check the bathroom and the closet, even though I knew he wasn't there, and I was right.

There was only one place I haven't checked yet, the bedroom. This could go either way, he could either not be there, or be trapped under the sleeping spell. Honestly I wish he isn't there, just for his own safety.

I slowly walk toward the bedroom, making sure I don't make any noise. It wasn't actually that difficult, since the floorboards inside didn't creak that often, plus I'm sort of good at being silent. At least when I'm not trying to talk to people.

I try to silently open the door to the dank room, but it creaks and I curse to myself. The sound would most likely either scare someone off or wake someone up, unless of course they're under the curse. The room was so dark all I could see was the outlines of some furniture, curse Roman for wanting less light in the bedroom.

I step inside, only to hear someone murmuring.

"She can never know", someone says silently.

I quickly return back to the corridor, hoping that they didn't see me come inside. I have two options, I could either run away or go in guns blazing. Obviously I pick the second one, because Ruby Rose is no coward.

I grab Crescent Rose from my belt and step inside the room once again. There's a short figure standing near the bed, most likely a woman, and another one on the bed, not quite sure who.

It looks like they haven't noticed my presence, I try to keep my voice as steady as possible as I ask, "She can never know _what_?"


	15. Chapter 15

**AN~ Okay, hi, I know it's been a while, but I haven't really felt like writing in the past few, well, in a long time really. If I told you now, that I've been busy with high school, that'd be a lie, cause I think it's been pretty easy for the past few months now, and I could've easily been writing during that time. I have written a couple short RWBY fics in these past months, but I never got to releasing them, cause I didn't actually like them, they were just some random scrap I wrote. I also gave up on this fic a while back and decided not to write it anymore, but just now, like literally fifteen minutes ago, I decided that I couldn't just leave you hanging, since apparently I left the last chapter on a cliff-hanger. I'm not sure if I'll continue this fic much, but for now, I'll try to finish it, which is something I should've done a long time ago. Anyways, for what it's worth, I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a good day~**

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The woman across the room turns to me, she stays silent though. Everyone in the room was tense, except for me of course, I was handling the situation just like I thought was right.

Suddenly the lights turn on, the woman on the side seems to have turned them on while I was lost in my thoughts.

There were three people in the room, including me, just as I'd thought. Roman was laying on the bed with his head in his hands, sighing deeply. He doesn't seem to be too happy about seeing me, or then it's just the fact that now I've heard something I shouldn't have. Most likely the second one.

The view of the woman was much clearer now, she had both pink and brown hair, which gave me a slight feeling of déjà vu. After looking at her more closely I notice that I have seen her before, we weren't exactly on the same side then. She helped Roman escape during the huge robot battle thing, haven't really heard much else. Her semblance seems cool though, it's a bit like Blake's in a way.

"Red, you can put away your over sized gardening tool now", Roman says as he gets up from the bed to stand by the woman's side, "Neo, Red, Red, Neo", he introduces us.

Neo, Roman's younger sister, so not only is she his partner in crime, they're also related. She nods at me, and I respond with a quiet, "Hello".

I'm not quite sure how I should feel about this situation, is she a friend or a foe? She did technically fight against us that one time, but on the other hand so did Roman, and he's fine now.

Despite what Roman said, I keep my 'over sized gardening tool' ready for a possible attack from the pink lady. Even thought she is Roman's sister, I do not trust her, not yet.

I decide to return to the main objective here and find out exactly what's going on. They will most likely lie to me to 'keep me safe', but I'll manage to get the truth out of them one way or another.

" _She_ can never know _what_?", I ask again, hoping that this time one of them will answer.

Neo looks at Roman for a while, most likely as a way to tell him not to tell me anything, cause that's how it usually goes. Roman shakes his head as a sign of saying no, and Neo rolls her eyes. I know they have a special bond, cause they're siblings and all that, but how can they understand each other so easily?

Neo slowly reaches for the table and I aim my scythe towards her.

"Jesus Red, she's just grabbing a pen and paper", Roman looks at me rather shocked.

The fact that Roman was shocked by how I acted made me feel slightly sad. He usually understands why I do the things I do, but even I think I may have gone too far this time. Neo hasn't exactly done anything bad, yet, neither of them have. Apart from the shady mumbling I heard, everything was normal.

Neo fiddles around with the pen, writing small letters on the white paper. I just stare at her for a while, watching her mismatched hair sway while her fingers move along the paper.

She looked about my age, except she didn't. She was almost as tall as me, maybe a few inches shorter, but overall the rest of her body looks way older than me. She looks like a full grown woman, but with just half the height. She was absolutely adorable.

Once she was done writing the message, she quickly read it with her mismatched eyes, and then showed it to me.

"She, _as in Cinder. She can't know anything about my secret visits here, so I'd be more than happy if you'd keep this to yourself. Oh and by the way, I don't talk. And please put away your_ ", then there's a small sketch of Crescent Rose, it wasn't bad either.

Her handwriting was beautiful, both fancy and cute at the same time. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had replaced the dots on the 'i's with tiny hearts.

Even though I still don't trust her completely, I must give her the benefit of doubt. I put away Crescent Rose.

You can't just assume the worst in someone you've just met, you have to give them a chance. And if they are truly bad, you need to remember that people can change, just like Roman did. I feel absolutely disgusted knowing that others judge people for who they are or were.

Sure, I might still be a little skeptical, but that's why I need to get to know her better.

"Why doesn't she talk", I ask Roman, knowing that Neo wouldn't give me a straight answer.

"I don't know. The only thing I've ever heard come out of her was screaming, and that was only when she was a baby", he answers.

Strange, having a child that never makes a sound, their mother must've had a blast raising them. Did she ever wonder what her child would sound like?

While Roman was talking, Neo had started writing a new message. By the time Roman was done talking she was almost done. I was surprised how fast she could write, considering she only has a pen and paper, and no surface to write on.

She hands me the paper and I start reading.

" _You ask me something, I ask you something, okay?_ "

I nod. Roman walks next to me to read the note this time. He chuckles lightly and walks towards the bedroom door.

"I'll just leave you two to chat then", he says, "I'll be watching a movie if anyone needs me", he opens the door and leaves the room.

"Don't fall asleep on the sofa!", I yell after him.

Neo smiles and rolls her eyes, most likely to mock Roman, cause that's what siblings do.

Being alone in the same room as my sister's nemesis feels sort of weird, but at the same time I really would like to get to know her better. From what Roman has told me she doesn't seem like too bad of a person.

"So what do you want to know?", I ask her.

She opens a drawer and takes out a notepad, which is most likely going to be useful in out conversations. Constantly getting more paper seems like a waste.

She sits on the floor and gestures me to sit opposite her, so I do. She starts scribbling a somewhat short message. I'm not exactly good at reading upside down, but turns out I didn't have to, because the message was already slammed into my face. Not literally.

" _Let's get a few things straight. You don't trust me, and I don't exactly trust you either, correct?_ "

I nod at her and she gestures me to keep on reading, and I do.

" _Roman was your enemy, but you still helped him get out of jail, correct? Would you be willing to do that for anyone else?_ "

I'll admit the questions were strange, but I can see why she'd want to ask it. That was actually two questions, but I think I'm gonna let it slide.

"I didn't exactly 'help him out of jail', it's more like I made him see that there's still hope left for him", I sigh, "He thought that he didn't have anything left on the outside world, so I just made him see them", I smile at her.

Neo taps on the paper again, waiting for the other question to be answered.

"Depends on who the person would be, really. It was easy with Roman, cause he regretted his choices and wanted to change, at least partly", I say as honestly as possible.

" _Would you help me?_ ", she wrote.

"It's not about getting you out of jail, it's about you understanding that you've done wrong", I tell her.

She sighs, then writes on the notepad again, " _Your turn_ ".

I honestly couldn't think of much to ask, I already knew the basics about her and I don't really know enough about her life to question it. She seems like an honest person who I can trust, at least most of the time. Plus, she's here without Cinder knowing, so she must be somewhat on our side, if we even have one.

"I don't really have anything I need to know but the fact that I can trust you. _Can I trust you?_ ", I ask a bit worried.

I know it's completely idiotic to ask someone if you can trust them, cause they'll obviously say yes, and we all know that she doesn't really trust me either, but it's worth a shot.

It took some time for her to actually start writing. Most of the time I waited she just stared at the paper, most likely hoping to find the right words to say.

However after a few minutes she started writing something, and even though she didn't write it as fast as she usually did, I knew she was putting a lot of effort into the message. When she was ready she slowly turned the notepad to me so I could read the small text.

" _I don't see why you should, but I also don't see why you shouldn't. I work with criminals, yet I am not completely bad. I may be slightly mad or insane at times, but the things I do still affect my life gravely. You may trust me as much as your heart desires, just know that it may not be the wisest thing to do at times_ ".

Somehow she'd managed to write all that on a tiny piece of paper. She looks at me, hoping that I'll understand what her message had meant. I did understand bits and pieces, but the message was still unclear. Should I trust her or not?

"Okay then", I say and get up from the floor.

I walk out of the bedroom and I feel Neo staring back at me. I'll admit, it is a bit rude to leave the room like that, but honestly I have nothing to say to her anymore, plus I really need to talk to Roman.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN~ This is all I've written of the fic so far, and I don't exactly have plans on writing any time soon, so updates will be slow. I'm having a huge writers block and to be honest I just don't feel like I have time to write much anymore. It's currently winter break and I actually have plans and would like to fulfill those plans, so I won't be writing much. I'll try, but no promises.**

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He was, like most of the time, laying on the sofa watching a movie. Not that I'd expected him to be doing anything else, since he said that he was going to watch one.

Sometimes I feel like I should get him something to do other than watch movies, since he doesn't seem to have a problem with it. Sitting in one place for the whole day is most definitely not healthy, Roman should understand that.

I walk to the sofa and sit next to him, which was really difficult, since he was already taking up most of the space. Once he noticed I was trying to sit next to him, he moved to make way for me, which was nice.

Neo also came out of the bedroom, but she didn't join us. She walked straight into the kitchen, most likely hoping to find some food. Sadly the only thing she'll find is slightly burned cupcakes, made by yours truly. I had Roman give away most of the good ones, since they were such a big hit in my friends' opinion.

Either Roman was ignoring me or he was really captivated by the movie, cause he did not seem to want to take his eyes of the TV. I'm almost positive that it was the first option, cause he's seen these movies a million times already. He only has about ten and he keeps re-watching them cause he has nothing better to do.

Neo came into the living room and stood behind the sofa, watching the movie as she ate her cupcake. I'm glad she doesn't know they're burnt.

"Roman", I say, but he doesn't answer, "Roman", I say once more, but he still doesn't answer me, I sigh.

Neo smacks him in the head with her umbrella, he stares back at her in playful shock. Then out of nowhere I start grinning and end up laughing like a crazy person.

"Jesus Christ, calm down", he says to Neo, then turns to me, "Now you've got the ice cream truck on your side too?

Neo smacks him in the head again and hands him a piece of paper. He reads it and grins again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever _Ice Cream Truck_ ", he rolls his eyes.

I grab the piece of paper from his hand and read it, cause I do not want to be left out of this very weird conversation between two siblings and ex-criminals. Although is Neo really an ex-criminal yet? I mean she's not exactly working with Cinder, but she can still be bad, right?

" _Do not call me that or I will smack you_!", the note says. I smile at the amount of sass Neo is giving Roman.

Then I remember the real reason I came here. It's strange how I could've forgotten such a serious matter.

"Roman, Weiss is under some sort of sleeping spell thing cast by Cinder!", I blurt out. _How to be subtle 101._

They both stare at me in shock. To think that just a few minutes ago everything was normal.

I tell them everything. Even the parts about myself being tortured that I tried hard to keep secret. Roman deserves to know the truth.

"So the Ice Queen is in a coma?", Roman asks confused.

"Glynda called it a sleeping spell, or something like that", I say, also a bit confused.

Roman looks at his sister and says, "Do you know anything about this?"

Neo just shakes her head, I doubt she has anything to say about this. Cinder clearly doesn't tell her everything, just like with Roman. I wonder how she keeps Neo around. Roman stuck with her for the love he thought he got, but what's keeping Neo loyal? Maybe Roman just needs someone on the inside to keep him updated on Cinder's plans. People are always loyal to their siblings.

"The reason why I came here in the first place, was to check if you were okay", I say quietly.

He smiles, "That's sweet Red, but I can fend for myself. Don't worry".

"Like I did? Like Weiss? We're both pretty strong and we're both capable of defeating you. I'm pretty sure that in a situation like this, you are not the one with the upper hand", I rant.

He sighs, "So where can we get this potion?", he asks.

"Go talk to Glynda", I advise.

"But I don't like her", he whines.

"Nobody likes her!", I almost yell.

Neo hands me a piece of paper, " _I like her_ ", it says. I sigh.

Even thought most of the school had already gotten their potions, I was still extremely worried about Roman, and now Neo too. This is not the time to be making jokes.

Plus I'm pretty sure Neo hasn't even met Glynda. She might have seen her on TV or something, but I doubt they've met in person. Glynda's not a bad person or anything, she's just a little strict, and by a little I mean a lot.

"So the Ice Queen is under some sort of spell. How does that have anything to do with me?", Roman asks.

"We've gone through this a million times already. It could happen to you too!"

"Besides that?", he asks again.

"We need to figure out how to get her out of it. Glynda thinks she's not strong enough to get out by herself", I sigh.

"So the new headmaster trusts me now, shocking", he says to himself.

"She didn't exactly say you were going to help with all this, mostly just my team and maybe JNPR. Luckily now we have Neo on the inside, so she can gather up some intel", I say a bit too excited.

The two siblings look at each other for a while, then Neo starts writing. She hands the paper to me and I read it out loud this time, "Not him. Cinder dislikes him a lot. He needs to stay safe".

I agree with the message completely. Cinder is obviously still bitter about what has happened in these few months, and I don't blame her. Having someone break your trust is hard, it makes you think about who you can and can't trust nowadays.

"I am not being left behind!", Roman states, "I'm not going to let her get away with this!"

I smile at the thought of him wanting to have revenge for me, but I still have to be against him helping, "I agree with Neo. You're on her hitlist, therefore you are not safe".

"Need I remind, you're on that 'hitlist' as well?"

Neo writes him another note, " _Yeah, thanks to you_ ".

I couldn't blame Neo for being annoyed by the fact that she was now hunted by the entire police department, having to live the next couple of months in hiding, I doubt anyone would want that. Then again, I think Roman has done that quite a bit in his life, and he turned out okay, if you can even call him that.

"Roman, I'm sorry-", I start and he tries to interrupt me, but I quickly continue, "I've made up my mind and you're not joining us".

"Ruby!", he looks at me sadly, "Please? I just want to protect you".

I don't think I've ever seen Roman react like this to anything, Neo also seems to be in shock. Although, I doubt there's been a person Roman has wanted to protect for a while.

It made me feel extremely bad for not letting him come with us, but it was for the best, I couldn't let him get hurt trying to protect me. Imagine if he died right in front of me, taking the shot for me. I'd lose him forever, I couldn't have that. As cliché and annoying as it sounds, I can't live without him, that's what I've decided, that's what I decided a while ago to be honest.

The very moment I he stepped on that stage and confessed his love to me, I knew that there was no turning back, that I simply couldn't live in a world without him. If he were to die there'd forever be a whole where my heart should be. My friends and family would eventually try to fix me, but nothing would help, nothing would ever feel the same as it had felt when he were here.

I would never kill myself, Roman wouldn't want that. He despises the thought of suicide, he believes it's the act of cowardice. Sometimes I might feel like ending my life then and there, but in the end I could never do it, simply because the love of my life wouldn't want that. I would be forever shamed for acting like such a coward.

Neo looks at me with a empathetic look in her eyes, I can't tell if she wants me to say yes to Roman or if she just feels sorry for me having to make a decision on this matter. I look back at Roman, he's still staring at me, waiting desperately for my answer.

Is it wrong that I cannot choose? I can't choose between living with him always by my side, and possibly losing him and never being able to see or touch him again. If I were selfish right now, I would choose the first option, but if living without him guarantees his safety, then I would also do that. So the choice is basically between my love for him or his safety.

"Roman, don't make me choose", my eyes fill with tears and my voice cracks.

He laughs a bit, "Sweetheart, it's not a choice! It should already be obvious, you should let me protect you and always be there for you, is that not what you want?"

He clearly hadn't notice the turn of my emotions, but Neo had, she was already scribbling on her notepad.

After being done, she jumps to my side and hands me the note, gesturing for me to read it out loud, " _Roman, you clearly can't see how much this pains her, just please, let it go. She's made her decision, or at least tried to, you can't do this to her_ ".

"But I haven't done anything! I haven't forced her to make a choice, I'm coming whether she likes it or not!", he says with a slight pint of anger.

Neo was already on a roll, writing down furiously, " _YOU'RE MAKING HER DECIDE BETWEEN LOVING AND LEAVING YOU! YOU KNOW WHICH ONE SHE'LL CHOOSE AND YOU WON'T BE HAPPY WITH IT_ ", it was written with large messy letters, which was a clear sign of her wanting to write as fast as possible.

Roman couldn't believe what he was hearing, you could see it in the shock upon his face. He seemed angry, but also slightly disappointed.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to do something about this, I had to make a choice. Neo would want me to stick with the original plan, and I would also love it, but Roman wants to risk his life for me.

"I'm sorry Roman", I say with tears in my eyes, "I'm so sorry", I continue as I run from the cottage, leaving behind both the love of my life and blood red rose petals.


	17. Chapter 17

The tears streamed down like from a waterfall, quickly and heavily. I'm not sure where I'm going, just somewhere as far away from Beacon as possible. Would it be worth it to go to the city, or would it be too weird to see a small girl crying her eyes out on the streets? I should probably give up on that plan.

I can't go back to the dorms, not after all I've done. Weiss is under a sleeping curse because of me, and I can't fix it. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to fix the damage I've done. All of Beacon academy has to be vaccinated or drink disgusting potions because of me. I'm the one Cinder's truly after, it's all my fault.

If it weren't for my curiousity, Cinder's plans would have gone the way they were supposed to and everything would be fine, apart from the fact that she would most likely have taken over all of Remnant.

I found that I'd stopped running, I was just standing in the middle of the large grass fields of Beacon, crying like a lost little girl. I couldn't get myself to move, my legs didn't seem to want to take me anywhere. I felt weak. First I fell to my knees, then my entire body was laying on the ground. I could feel the damp grass soak my clothes under me, it was relaxing, but made me feel cold.

I didn't feel like getting up, or the I simply didn't want to. Someone would eventually find me and bring me to safety, hopefully before I froze to death. Then again, I don't think that would've mattered, the world is better off without me. I, Ruby Rose, am a child, an ignorant and foolish child who can't seem to save anyone in this cruel and lost world.

I guess I should admire the fact that Roman would risk is own life for me, that'd he'd do absolutely anything for me, but I can't. It's so very romantic and noble, but if there's even the smallest risk of losing him forever, I won't accept it.

I've already lost him now, I doubt he's coming back for me, cause I'm not going back for him. I made my choice, it was either loving him and letting him go, or losing him forever to the cruel grasps of death. Someone once told me that if you love something, you have to let it go. I think that's a stupid saying. If I love something, aren't I supposed to cherish it for all eternity? Then again, there are other ways of looking at it too. If I let something I love go, you can always wait and see if they come back.

Would Roman come back for me? After all this is over, would he return to me with the same love he'd had for me, or would it change? Even though he'd stay in this world with me, alive, everything would still change, just ever so slightly. A small change can cause a massive turn of events, even I should know that by now.

But the question is, when will it be all over? Is there even such a time? The world could end in days, everything we have right here and now could be gone within a small amount of time, and unless we do something, there's no way of stopping it.

The people I love and care about, they can do it without me. If I die here, I die young. Better to die young when you've actually accomplished so much, than to die old when you can't even remember the things you've done right with the world.

As silly as it may sound, I'm not actually ready to die yet. I have so many things I still want to do, so much to live for. I know I've fallen, but there has to be someone out there to pick me up.

At this point my eyes are already shut, the world was black. I couldn't feel anything but slight stings across my body, and the shivering. I was freezing. It hadn't even been that long since I left the cottage, maybe an hour or so, but the cold and wet ground under me had left me with no choice than to freeze.

They say that when you close your eyes, your other senses heighten, but I have a feeling the loud thumps I hear are only coming from my slowly beating heart.

The thumps grew louder and louder every second, then suddenly they stopped and I felt like I was being lifted to heaven, that's when I passed out.

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 **AN~ Sorry for such a short chapter, writing this isn't really going well for me right now, I'm working a lot on some other stuff non-fanfiction related, but I try. Always good to hear about you guys pleading for more~**


	18. Chapter 18

I feel like positivity isn't one of my strong points right now, everything is going really badly and it's all my fault. Maybe I wouldn't feel as bad if I knew there was something I could do to magically fix everything, but there's not. Everything we worked so hard for, to keep everyone safe and have peace across the land, that's all gone now.

If there was anything I could do to help, I would do it. Someone has to tell me the magic words, teach me how to make it right and I will. People expect me to fix things all by myself, to make everything alright without any kind of training. I know this is what I'm trained to do, but I can't do it. I try so hard, but I can't seem to help anyone, all I do is cause pain. Maybe this isn't who I'm meant to be at all, maybe it would be better if I just stopped.

Sometimes I wonder who else is in trouble because of me. Neo is practically risking her life turning to my side and just helping us in general. Roman turned good, or at least somewhat good, but now all the bad guys are after him. It's definitely not a good thing to have an entire organization after you, and not just the White Fang, Cinder too.

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I watch a nurse enter my room, this time I don't even try to speak, it was for the best anyway. I feel like if I tried to speak I would either sound really depressed or not be able to say anything at all. I can feel her gaze upon me, but I don't look at her. She walks up to the machines I'm hooked on to and fiddles with them.

Roman's probably already on the mission with my teammates, fighting the fight that was supposed to belong to me. It was my duty to make things better, not only because it's in my nature, but because I caused it.

My vision goes blurry again, the light around me starts to slowly fade away. Breathing gets harder and harder with every breath. In shock, I turn to the nurse.

If I could speak, I'd be yelling. The woman seems to be cutting all the wires to the machines, destroying every machine that would make my survival possible. I try to get up from the bed, but I feel too weak to move. That's when the pain of not being able to breathe kicks in. It feels like my lungs are being crushed by a truck with five cars stacked on top of it.

The nurse turns to me and smiles, her golden eyes gleaming with success, it looks a lot like a burning flame. If I were able to see any better I probably would have payed more attention to other details, but as the eyes shined the brightest, that's the first thing I saw. That's what I focused myself to look at so I wouldn't fade away as quickly. I doubt she's an actual nurse at all, no one would allow someone to destroy another's life like this.

That's when it all clicks. The eyes, that was the only clue I needed. There was no one other than her who would want to kill me, not with eyes like that. Cinder herself had come to finish me. I guess I should feel somewhat honored, being the victim of the most cruel criminal known in Remnant.

She looks at me as I'm slowly fading away, "We both know it was going to end like this, _Red_ ", she says with her charismatic and bold voice.

 _That's the last thing I hear before I fade away completely..._

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 **AN~ So that's it. I'm done. The death of Roman, if he even is dead, has successfully destroyed my ship and I don't feel like writing it anymore, so there will be no sequels. Even if he isn't actually dead I will not continue this series, but shall stick to smaller ones. I hope you enjoyed this fanfic, and I am truly sorry if I have wounded you with the way I ended it. Hope you survive~**


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